The Ups and Downs of Being a Single Dad
by Shiruke-Lightheart
Summary: Natsu Dragneel is a single dad. He lost his wife at the birth of his only son, Happy Dragneel. Five years later, when he moves back to his hometown for his job, he meets a girl named Juvia. The colour of her hair exactly matches the colour of his deceased wife and he falls in love with her over time. Will she accept his feelings or break his heart again?
1. Chapter 1

This is a story about Natsu Dragneel, a single dad of 25 and his son Happy who has recently celebrated his fifth birthday. Natsu lost his wife at the birth of his son and hasn't returned to his hometown, Magnolia, ever since. Instead, he's been living far from there; until now.

Recently, Natsu got a promotion at his work, but he would have to move back to Magnolia for that job again. He accepted the promotion and pretty soon after, he and Happy moved back to Magnolia.

"Have fun at school Happy!", Natsu yelled after his son as he waved goodbye and got back into the car to get to his first day of work. He looked as the blue haired kid ran off into the school gates and drove off in the direction of Magnolia Inc. A business company specialized in making fire fighter uniforms and other necessities for fire fighters. He would be starting there today as the assistant director of the part located in Magnolia that made sure everything was fireproof.

He parked his car in the reserved spot and walked to the reception. A woman with short purple hair was answering a phone call behind the counter, her name tag said Laki. When she put down the phone she asked "How can I help you today sir?"

"I'm Natsu Dragneel. I was transferred here from Clover.", Natsu explained the girl. "Oh yeah. The new assistant director. I'll call someone to show you around.", Laki said and picked up the phone again "Juvia, could you come down to show our new assistant director around?" she asked and when she put down the phone once again she told Natsu "Juvia will come in a moment to show you around. She's a nice person that's also very reliable.", Laki praised her when suddenly a blue haired girl told her "Don't say that Laki. If you keep praising me like that, Juvia will never be ableto live up to the expectations of our new assistant manager."

Natsu looked at her and felt a certain feeling of nostalgia as he looked at her hair that had the exact same colour of his deceased wife. "I'm Juvia Loxar. If you have any questions, you can rely on Juvia.", she told him and Laki explained "Juvia here is our manager, she was the assistant manager before you so she can help you with everything you need."

"Now, how about we get started?", she asked him and Natsu nodded "Sure," he said as he followed the bluenette into the halls of the company's building.

As the day passed and Natsu was done with work, he drove back to Happy's school. He waited outside the school gates when suddenly a flash of blue appeared in the corner of his eye "Natsu-san?" the already familiar voice he had met today said "Juvia?" Natsu said surprised as he turned around to indeed see his boss standing at the same school. "What brings Natsu-san here?", she asked as she walked towards him. "I'm picking up my son from school," Natsu told her. She looked pretty surprised when he told her that. "Natsu-san has a kid?", she asked surprised. "Yeah. Why are you so surprised?", he asked the bluenette. "Because Natsu-san is still so young. Is Natsu-san married then?", she asked and Natsu shook his head "In a certain way I am," he said as he pulled his necklace from underneath his shirt. When y/n had died he started wearing their wedding rings together on a necklace. "But my wife died at birth.", he explained as he put his necklace back into his shirt.

"Oh. Juvia didn't...", she stammered "It's okay Juvia. You couldn't possibly know. But, what brings you here?"

"Juvia is also here to pick up her kids from school.", she told her pink haired co-worker "Aren't you a bit too young then as well?", he mockingly asked her. She pouted as she realised that he was mocking her. "I'm just kidding. Are you married then?"

"Well, Juvia still is at the moment but Juvia's husband left Juvia the moment he knew they were getting twins. He said he wouldn't be able to handle it. So now I'm alone with my kids.", she said and looked down after. Was it really okay to just tell Natsu everything. She had just met him today too. "But Juvia's okay.", she reassured him. The last thing she wanted was to have him all over her because he thought she was sad because of what had happened in the past. The past was the past, she couldn't change it and wouldn't want to either way. She was much happier with how things were right now. "That figures. You look like a strong woman to me.", Natsu said just as the school bell rang to indicate the end of school.

Happy walked out of the school with his new friends. Twins named Gray and Ultear. They had raven hair and bright blue eyes. When he suddenly saw the familiar pink hair waiting for him at the school gates, he started running towards his dad. "Daddy!", Happy yelled. Natsu turned around and crouched down with his arms open. Happy ran into his arms and Natsu gave him a hug. When he let go he asked "How was your first day?"

"Amazing! I made a lot of new friends and. Oh.", Happy said as he ran off again and came back with two kids, a boy and a girl, that looked just like each other. "These are my new best friends. this is Gray," he said as he pointed to the boy "and this is Ur." he said as he pointed to the girl. Natsu ruffled Happy's hair and flashed him a smile. "Then Juvia believes our kids have taken a liking to each other.", Juvia said to Natsu and Natsu had a questioning look on his face until his realised "Those are your kids."

Juvia nodded and said "Juvia will see you tomorrow Natsu-san. We still have to go grocery shopping."

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow.", Natsu said as he walked off to their car with Happy.

When they had arrived at home, Happy ran off to play while Natsu got dinner started. When dinner was ready, they ate together and watched a movie after dinner. When it got late, they both went to bed but not long after, Happy sneaked into Natsu's room to sleep with him. "Hey dad?" he asked and got nothing more than a hum in response from the tired pinket "Who was that woman you were talking to at school?" Natsu turned around to look at his son "That was Juvia. She works at the same place I do. She's a nice person." Natsu said as his answer was immediately responded with yet an other question

"Do you like Juvi-nee?" Natsu was taken back by this question. Why did kids always ask such ridiculous questions? And where did 'Juvi-nee' come from? "No. I only met her today and I was a bit intrigued by her. She looks like your mother. Why'd you ask?", Natsu asked his son. "Maybe you'd fall in love with her at first sight. You did say she looks like mama.", Happy proposed to Natsu. "Silly you," Natsu said as he ruffled Happy's hair "Such things don't exist in real life."


	2. Trick or treat

**_Trick or Treat_**

Two months into living in Magnolia and Halloween was approaching. "Do you wanna trick or treat Happy?" Natsu yelled from the kitchen where he was baking a pumpkin pie. He didn't get an immediate reply. He finished the pie and put it into the over to bake, then he removed his apron and went on a search for his son. He found Happy in the living room, watching his favourite program on TV. "Shouldn't you listen when your father is talking to you?" Natsu asked and Happy's head snapped in the direction of his dad.

"Did you say something? I didn't hear. I'm sorry," the blue haired kid muttered and it was just too cute for Natsu to stay 'angry'. "It's nothing Happy. I was just asking if you wanted to trick or treat this year?" Natsu asked again.

Happy nodded fervently at this question and Natsu looked down "I don't think we'll have enough time to make costumes anymore. Is it okay if we just take the ones from last year. Daddy's really busy with his new function…" Natsu explained to his son, expecting Happy to be down about this.

Surprisingly, Happy wasn't down about it at all and answered "Sure. I understand. I really liked last year's costume too!". Natsu smiled, happy to know that he could do certain things to make his son happy.

Later that evening, Natsu and Happy were enjoying their dinner, which in fact was the pie that Natsu had made earlier and Natsu was glad that Happy enjoyed it. They went to bed late that night, for it was Saturday the day after and neither of them needed to get up early.

The weekend passed quickly and Monday, Halloween, came. Natsu was wearing his dragon costume that he had made last year, a scarf wrapped around his neck to keep him warm. Happy had a nice and warm blue cat costume with wings on the backside. It was something they had come up with together. Winged cats, Natsu looked down at his son and smiled. The young boy looked absolutely adorable.

They left the house to trick or treat and a few streets further, Happy was getting tired. It was late already too. Natsu asked if Happy wanted to go home, but the young boy proudly shook his head no. Of course he wouldn't admit he was getting tired. But just two streets further, Happy was shivering from the cold and Natsu could see he was reaching his limit. That was when he suddenly felt a tug on his costume and looked down "Daddy? Can we go home now. Happy is tired." The young boy said and Natsu nodded. He unwrapped the scarf from around his neck and wrapped it around Happy's neck to keep his son warm until they had reached their home. He then picked up the blue haired boy and carried him all the way home.

When they arrived at their house, Happy was already fast asleep in Natsu's arms and Natsu carried him inside, gently changing him into his pajamas and put him to bed; kissing his forehead before slowly closing the door.

He changed into his sleeping wear himself and went to sleep as well.

When he woke up the next morning, Happy had nestled himself into Natsu's bed again and slept peacefully against his father's chest. He had suddenly started doing that ever since they had moved to Magnolia. Maybe it was just the change of moving to a complete different city that was getting to him and was sleeping with him one of the few things that still reminded him of their old home. After all, it was the same bed with the same person in it. And maybe Happy felt a little bit more at home there. Natsu had never thought about how moving to such a far place could perhaps put stress on his son. He had never once asked Happy how he felt here and if he liked it. He had just assumed that Happy liked it just as much as he did.

He sure hoped that didn't make him a bad parent. He hadn't thought about the feelings of his kid…  
But Happy looked happy and Natsu was almost sure that Happy would tell him. That was when Happy started waking up.

"Say, Happy. Do you like it here in Magnolia?" Natsu asked and Happy nodded. Natsu was glad. "It's really fun here, I made a ton of new friends too. And I see you did tot. Especially Juvia, right?" Happy started "But, sometimes I really miss our old home too," he continued "Mommy lived there once. I might have never known her, but I know she was there and that house was closer to mommy than this one." Happy tried to explain with the words that he knew and Natsu knew the kid was right.

This house still felt distant from them. It had only been two months after all. And his wife had never lived here indeed. That had been one of the reasons why he was so hesitant about accepting this new job here in Magnolia. He had to move out of his house where he had lived with his wife and then five years with his son Happy before moving here. It was all new here and of course they needed some time to get used to all this but it was gonna be fine.

"It's okay Happy. I feel the same. But we're gonna make a lot of new fun memories to belong to this place, okay?" Natsu asked his son. Happy nodded and hugged Natsu.

"Now, let's go eat breakfast!"  
"Aye!"


	3. All Hallows

**_All Hallows_**

Today was the day after Halloween, on that day, Natsu always went to pay his respects to his wife's grave. This year, because they had moved so far from where they lived at first. They took the train to the town Happy had grown up in, Clover.

Juvia was waiting on her train at the train station. It should arrive every moment now… That was when she saw Natsu and Happy, both dressed in black tuxedo's and Natsu holding a bouquet of bright coloured flowers, board an other train on the other side of the tracks. What would they be doing on a day like this?

"Come on Happy. We just need to take this train and then we'll be in Clover again." Natsu told his son, holding his hand as he helped him on the train. They chose a seat and Natsu swore he saw a flash of blue, reminding him of his co-worker Juvia.  
He decided to let it slip today though, he wasn't in the mood today to deal with a lot of people anyway.

After a little over an hour, their train arrived in Clover. Natsu took Happy's hand and helped him off the train again, the young boy yawning as he had just been woken up by his father.

They made their way to the graveyard of Clover, situated on top of a hill. Happy was shivering by the time they arrived there, which wasn't so weird now that winter was getting closer and the weather forecast started warning for snow all over the country. So once they had arrived at the grave of Natsu's deceased wife and Happy's mother, Natsu bent down and wrapped his white scaly muffler around Happy's neck again to keep the young boy warm.

Happy looked up to his father and smiled. But Natsu's lips didn't curl into a smile like they normally did when Happy smiled at him. Natsu maintained his neutral expression with a hint of sadness in it and looked at the grave in front of them.

Happy looked at the grave, the name of his mother was on the stone above the name of his father. But Natsu's name only had one date underneath it while his mom's name had two. 4-11-1991 and 31-05-2011, his own birthdate…

Natsu kneeled down at the grave and replaced the flowers that were on the grave with the new one's he had brought with him today. Back when they lived here, Natsu used to come here at least once a week; but now they lived so far away, Natsu couldn't just visit this place anymore and that made this day even more special for the pinket.

He placed the bouquet on the stone and bent his head down, Happy looking at him in concern when the young boy noticed a few teardrops falling on the ground underneath his father.  
"I miss you…" Natsu whispered, knowing that he wouldn't get an answer. She was dead after all, and there was no such thing as magic or miracles that would be able to bring her back. More tears fell on the ground as Natsu started talking to the grave as if it was his wife and the would be able to communicate.

"We're doing well in Magnolia. The job is nice and I've made a few friends, Happy did too. I miss the house here though, it felt more like home. Probably because you lived there…"

Just for one moment, Happy thought he could feel something. Like the warmth of an embrace he got from his father. A feeling of happiness suddenly spread throughout his body and the young boy wondered if it perhaps was the spirit of his deceased mother that had come here to show him some love.

He had never known her after all, but he was sure she would have been a loving mother for him; if she wasn't really nice and pretty, his father wouldn't miss her that much, right?

"Daddy really loved mommy, didn't you?" Happy asked the pinket crying over his wife's grave. Natsu couldn't get out any words at the moment and just nodded, tears spilling from his eyes, down his face and finally falling on the ground and the grave.

Happy scooted closer to his father and gave him a comforting hug. That was when Natsu looked up and their faces met. Natsu smiled for the first time that day which made Happy smile again too. "How about we go home and order something nice to eat, like pizza or Chinese?" Natsu asked and Happy's smile grew as he nodded "Yay!"

Natsu got up and let his hand slide over the top of the grave "I'll come back. Happy birthday in advance already." Natsu said as he grabbed Happy's hand again and they walked out of the graveyard again in the direction of the station.

From somewhere in between worlds, a girl with blue hair and piercing green eyes looked at the two of them. "They grow up so fast, don't they. Nat-chan?"

When Natsu met Juvia in the grocery store a few days later with Happy, she told him "I saw you at the station the other day, all dressed up in a tux and you were carrying a big bouquet of flowers. Off to see a girlfriend?" Juvia teased him but Natsu just shook his head "I went to see my wife's grave." He said as he took a pot of beans from the rack.

Juvia mouthed a slightly shocked 'oh'. She hadn't expected that sort of explanation "I understand." She said quietly.

"It's okay," Natsu said, freeing her from her guilt "You couldn't have possibly known. Happy, come on. We've got everything!" he yelled to the blue haired kid playing with Juvia's kids. Happy's head shot up and he ran towards Natsu and followed him to the check-out.

"I shouldn't have been so blunt. Just asking him if he was off to see a new girlfriend while he was visiting his wife's grave. Ugh!" Juvia mumbled to herself while she was driving home. "Why was I so stupid!"  
 _'It's nice to see he still loves her this much though. Even I don't have that sort of emotions for Bora anymore, and he's still alive…'_ she thought as she got the groceries from the trunk and walked inside with her kids.

 _ **So this was the second and last one of the little 'fillers' I made. Because the next chapter was only planned for Christmas and I thought that was a bit long to wait. These might seem a bit rushed because I kinda 'rushed' to finish them in time. But I spend a lot of time on them. The next chapter will be at Christmas Eve and was a planned chapter so, no 'rushed' chapters anymore!**_


	4. Christmas

Weeks living in Magnolia turned into months and before they knew, December and its holidays had arrived. Happy was free from school and with Christmas coming around, so was Natsu. Today was the last day of school before Christmas break for Happy and when Natsu came to get him from school, he overheard a few somewhat older ladies talking about him.

"Who's that hot guy?", one of them asked

"I don't know," an other answered "But he's been everyday for the last few months picking up that blue haired kid, I think his name is Happy."

"Should be his brother," yet another one said and Natsu had to chuckle in himself. He might be young, but not that young. To think people actually thought he was Happy's brother instead of his father. "Why is Natsu-san smirking like that?", a very familiar voice with a now very familiar way of speaking asked him. "Hi Juvia. It's just because those women over there think I'm Happy's brother instead of his father.", Natsu explained and Juvia smiled "Well, that could be a possibility, you really don't look your age."

Natsu pouted and said "Last day of school already. It really went fast, didn't it?"

Juvia smiled weakly and said "It sure did. By the way Natsu-san, do you celebrate Christmas with friends?"

"Nope. Just me and Happy. How about you?" "Juvia will be celebrating Christmas alone this year. Gray and Ultear are celebrating Christmas with their father this year."

"The guy that left you because twins were too much for him?" Natsu asked confused and Juvia nodded "Even though he didn't want to care for them together with me at birth, two years later he told the judge that he deserved to see his kids as well so now they are with him every other week and we switch on holidays," Juvia explained the pinket. Natsu mouthed 'oh' before he grabbed both of her arms. "I know!" he exclaimed enthusiastic. "How about you spend Christmas with Happy and me this year?" Natsu asked happily and flashed a smile at Juvia that was so bright it could melt the polar caps and speed up global warming. But she hated that it was melting the ice caps around her heart. "Juvia can't just spend Christmas at Natsu-san's house. We only know each other for a few months now," she said and Natsu shook his head "That's not a problem, right? We see each other almost every day; I'd say we've gotten pretty good friends."

Juvia still was a bit hesitant about this. "Come on. Our kids are best friends, we need to get closer too, right? And I wouldn't want you to be on your own on Christmas." Natsu said. "Everyone deserves a chance to be with family on Christmas. And I can be your family for one day." he said and flashed her that smile again. "Well, Natsu-san is not going to leave Juvia alone if she say no anyway. So Juvia'll come and celebrate Christmas with Natsu-san." she sighed seeing that she had no other choice and Natsu held up his hand for a high five. Juvia didn't really get the clue at first but when she got it she looked up at Natsu and asked him "Really? What are you, five?". Natsu lowered his hand again and scratched the back of his head "Sorry. I'm just exited to celebrate Christmas with a friend this year."

Juvia smiled when suddenly the three kids ran up to them. "Hey Happy? Do you mind if Juvia comes over to celebrate Christmas with us?", Natsu asked the blue haired kid who looked up at the question and shook his head no. "I don't mind, Juvi-nee is a nice person."

"J-Juvi-nee?" Juvia asked Natsu and the pinket just shrugged "I don't know where that comes from, honestly. He just started saying it. Well, anyway, See you on Christmas Eve, I'll text you the address." Natsu told her before he took Happy's hand and they walked towards their car.

"Will Gray and Ultear be coming too?" Happy asked when they seated in the car. "No. That's the reason why Juvia is coming. Gray and Ultear are spending Christmas with their father and otherwise Juvia would be all alone," Natsu explained and Happy just replied with the question "What are we going to eat today?"

"I don't know. What do you want. We'll need to buy the food for tomorrow already though. What do you want to eat on Christmas Eve?"

"We need a big Turkey! And croquettes! And... And!"

Natsu was strolling through the grocery store getting everything he needed to make dinner on Christmas Eve tomorrow when he got called.

 _"Hello with Natsu."_

'Natsu, I heard you moved back into Magnolia. Is it true?'

 _"Zeref-Onii. I was planning on visiting you and Mavis next week."_

'Forget next week. How about you come and dine with us tomorrow for Christmas?'

 _"I'm sorry Onii-san."_ "Happy put that back!" _"I've got someone over tomorrow evening myself."_

'Then how about we come over tomorrow evening too? We can bring our daughter Lucy so Happy has someone to play with.'

 _"I guess I can't say no to you?"_ Natsu guessed and the voice on the other side of the phone answered him 'No. So We'll see you tomorrow evening. See ya'

Natsu sighed as the phone hooked up. Now he would have to cook for his brother Zeref, his wife and daughter that was about the same age as Happy. "Happy, we need to get more food. Zeref, Mavis and Lucy are coming too," Natsu told Happy who was gazing at the fish with hunger in his eyes. "Guess we'll be eating fish tonight?"

Happy looked up and nodded vigorously. "Which one do you want?" Natsu asked as he saw Happy run to the other side of the fridge and run back with a package in his hands "This one, this one!"

Natsu put the fish in the cart as he crouched down to Happy "How about you get the croquettes; I'll get the turkey and we'll meet up in the candy aisle, then you can pick out something to snack tonight, okay?" Natsu proposed. Happy smiled widely and nodded before running off to get the croquettes.

The next day, Natsu had been in the kitchen for the most of the day. He wanted this Christmas to be perfect. He wanted to impress his brother for once instead of always being pushed into the ground by his superior brother that was better in almost everything. And most of all, for some reason, he wanted to impress Juvia.

The doorbell ran and Natsu yelled "Can you get it Happy? I'm pretty busy here." "Yeah!" Happy yelled back as he ran to the door. He opened the door to reveal Juvia with presents in her arms. "Hi Happy. Where's Natsu?" she asked "Daddy's preparing dinner," Happy told the bluenette. Juvia followed the boy with the same blue hair she has and spotted Natsu in the kitchen stirring in some pots wearing an apron. She walked up to him and asked "Can Juvia help you with something?"

Natsu turned around to see Juvia wearing a black knee-lenght dress with a collar and her hair down for once. "Y-you look beautiful," Natsu said, stunned. "You think? Juvia tried something different," she told the pinket who started sniffing the air and said "Shit! The turkey!" before opening the oven and saving the turkey. That was when the doorbell rang again "Natsu-san invited more people?" Juvia asked and Natsu shook his head "I didn't ask them; they invited themselves. It's my brother Zeref with his wife and kid," Natsu said before walking out of the kitchen and towards the door. As he opened it, three people indeed stood in the opening. A somewhat older male with black hair which, Juvia guessed should be in his late twenties, wearing an all black suit, a blonde woman that should be the same age as she and Natsu were wearing a pink dress that reached her ankles and a little blonde girl around the age of Happy and her kids.

The kid immediately ran up to where Happy was and they started talking about what they had done in school. Natsu let them in and showed them their places. "You're right in time. I just finished the turkey." Natsu told his brother with a slight tone of disgust in his voice. He really couldn't stand his brother. He had everything. Both of them had a great, good-paying job, they were a happy family, had a big house, everything!

When they were all eating, Zeref suddenly asked Natsu "You haven't introduced us to this lovely lady sitting here with us. Is she your new girlfriend?"

"No Zeref, she's my boss at work and her kids are celebrating christmas with their father. I didn't want her to be alone on christmas eve," Natsu explained his older brother. Mavis seemed to understand and smiled at Natsu but Zeref just shook his head "You really should start thinking about finding a new girlfriend Natsu. Happy needs a mother figure or he won't be able to grow up into a decent young man. Isn't it time for you to get over that stupid childhood crush of yours and actually do something with your life."

"Why don't you just shut up," Natsu mumbled under his breath so only Juvia could hear him.

When they finally left, Natsu was happy. He could finally breathe again without having Zeref tell him how he should do everything. "Let me guess," Juvia said as she helped the pinket washing the dishes "You don't really like your brother?"

"Not really. Ever since we were little he has been telling me how to live my life. You've heard him just now too, right? He's an asshole," Natsu said as he dried the last plate.

Juvia looked on the clock and saw it was getting close to midnight already "It's getting late already. Juvia should go home. Juvia really had fun Natsu." Juvia said and Natsu protested "Come on. It's only midnight. Watch a movie with us first." Natsu proposed.

Juvia had a fun night until now, so when Natsu proposed to watch a movie together before going home; she didn't even want to say no. This guy really was getting to her, too bad that he wasn't interested in her. Otherwise he wouldn't be so opposed to the idea of her being his girlfriend just earlier.

"A little bit longer won't hurt." Juvia told the pink haired male.

However, one hour into the movie, Happy had fallen asleep and Juvia herself was nodding off as well. Natsu had gotten up to get Happy ready for bed and when he had tucked the blue haired kid in, he went back to watching the movie with Juvia. Half an hour later tho, Juvia's body slumped against his and when he looked to his left, he noticed her sleeping form resting on him. He decided to watch the end of the movie and wake her up after that but when the movie did end, he couldn't get her awake.

"Juvia. You really gotta wake up if you still want to get home tonight." he still tried but it didn't work, he got no reaction out of the sleeping form of the bluenette.

Natsu sighed as he picked up the girl and carried her to his bedroom. He put her down in his bed and put her shoes next to the bed. Then he went into the bathroom and changed into his underwear. When he wanted to go to sleep, he guessed he should wear something a bit more appropriate so he quickly pulled a shirt over his head before going to sleep.

As he was laying in his bed he dared to turn around and look at Juvia for a couple of minutes. With her sleeping face and blue hair like this, she looked just like his deceased wife and Natsu had to remind himself a few times that his wife was dead and that this was his boss Juvia Loxar that was only sleeping in his bed because she had fallen asleep while watching a movie with him because he had asked her to celebrate Christmas with him because her ex-husband was celebrating Christmas with their kids this year.

Natsu just turned around and was asleep in no time so he could at least dream it was his wife lying here in bed with him on just one more normal christmas Eve that they had celebrated with their son like every other family did on Christmas Eve...


	5. A Morning with my Boss

_Update 25-12-2016_

When Juvia woke up the next morning, she felt fully rested for once. No kids waking her up early because they wanted to open their Christmas presents or alarms to tell her she needed to get up for work.

She opened her eyes but was confused. She didn't recognise the dark blue covers or the red pillowcases; it didn't smell like her bed either. She sat up and looked around the room that was dimly lit by the little light coming through the blinds. Only when she noticed the scaly scarf Natsu always seemed to wear hanging over the bedpost at the other side of the bed that she realised where she was. _'I'm in Natsu's house!'_

When she looked a bit closer, she noticed a picture frame standing on the nightstand at the other side of the bed. She scooted a bit closer so she could see the picture in it. On the photo were two people; the guy with the pink hair was obviously Natsu when he was younger but she didn't recognize the second person. It was a girl with curly blue hair that smiled as she looked at Natsu. _'That's Natsu's wife,'_ she thought as she finally realised why Natsu had always been so friendly with her from the start _'She looks just like me.'_

She decided to get up and walked out of the room downstairs. When she walked out of the hallway, she spotted Natsu sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper. When she closed the door behind her, Natsu looked up and smiled as he noticed her. "Good morning Juvia. Did you sleep well?" he asked and Juvia nodded before walking towards the kitchen herself and sitting down across Natsu. "You want some coffee too?" he asked her as he refilled his own 'World's best dad' mug

"Sure," Juvia responded and Natsu took a mug for her and filled it with coffee. "How come you're up so early?" Juvia asked the pinket as he gave her the mug filled with the black liquid. "Are you kidding me? You have kids too, right? It's Christmas," Natsu said and Juvia mouthed 'oh'

"He was up at five already. But I managed to persuade him to lay down a bit with us first before getting up to get the presents. He slept a good two hours before waking me up again to go see the presents. And that's the story of how I am awake this early already." Natsu explained and Juvia giggle; knowing fully well that you could never sleep in on Christmas morning if you had kids.

When she had finished her coffee, she grabbed her jacket and siad goodbye to Natsu and Happy. It was already past noon when she walked out of the door and Natsu said "If you're bored you can always come over. And if you have the kids again, they can play with Happy.".

Juvia nodded and said "Sure" before walking off to her car and driving home. While she was doing so, she thought about how sweet it had been of Natsu to let her come over to celebrate Christmas with him, to let her sleep in his bed when she had fallen asleep at his home.

Now she would get her own kids back and celebrate a little Christmas with them too.

She pulled over at her ex-husband's house and got out of the car. Just when she wanted to knock on the door, he opened. "Bora," Juvia greeted him. "You're late." he told her. "Juvia knows, Juvia is sorry. She had a Christmas party yesterday evening with one of her friends and Juvia fell asleep at their house," Juvia apologized. "With who did you celebrate it then?" Bora asked and Juvia shrugged it off "You wouldn't know him. Just someone with whom Juvia works," Juvia explained. Bora smirked slightly but Juvia didn't see. He called their kids and they appeared with their stuff "Did you get everything?" He asked them and they nodded before running towards their mother "How was Christmas with Natsu?" Ur asked as they walked back to the car and Bora saw Juvia's face lighten up at the mention of this Natsu. And if he got it well, she slept with him tonight too.

Something more was going on between them; and even if that wasn't true, he would use it in his benefit. Everything to make the life of the woman he once loved but then made his life a living hell as bad as possible. 


	6. The Start of Something More?

The Christmas break was over way too soon for Happy and Natsu wasn't too happy with it being over as well. That was, because he hadn't felt that good the whole night; sleeping not even three full hours and just laying awake holding his stomach as he tried to survive the cramps and pounding headaches; all while trying to not wake up Happy who was sleeping next to him.

When Happy was woken up the next day by the alarm and he saw Natsu wasn't up yet, he ran around the bed to watch his father's face; sweat ran down his cheeks and a bright red blush painted his cheeks, his brow was tensed and his eyes closed shut as if he was in pain

"Daddy? Are you okay?" the young boy asked and Natsu's eyes slowly opened. He had bags underneath them as a sign that he clearly hadn't gotten enough sleep as he responded "I'm feeling a little bit sick, is all."

Natsu sat upright in bed and before he could get up, Happy climbed on his lap and put one of his small hands on Natsu's forehead. "You feel really hot daddy. You should stay in bed." the young boy concluded as he tried to push his father's body back down on the mattress which, he concluded, went way easier than normally. "I'll call Juvi-nee!" Happy yelled as he ran out of the room, leaving Natsu alone on the bed. A shiver ran over his body so he decided to get back underneath the blankets for their nice warmth.

Downstairs, Happy had found Natsu's phone and dialed the number that said: Juvia. Juvia picked up the phone and said _'Hello Natsu? Is there something you need?'_

"Juvi-nee! You should come quickly, daddy is really sick!" Happy yelled into the phone as Juvia answered

 _'Okay, wait just a minute. I'll come over once I'm ready.'_

Fifteen minutes later, the sound of the doorbell sounded throughout the house and Happy jumped of the chair he was using to get high enough to get to the sink as he brushed his teeth. He had found some bread and cheese to eat and he was now getting himself ready for school.

Happy ran down the hallway and had to stand on the tips of his toes to be able to reach the door handle. Juvia came in and found Happy on the floor for he had fallen down when Juvia got in.

"Oh, hey Happy. Where's Natsu?" she asked the boy with the same hair colour as her. "Daddy's upstairs. He had a fever and all," Happy explained as Juvia nodded. She went into the kitchen and searched around for a bit until she found a bowl. She filled it with cold water and asked Happy "Happy, can you get Juvia a washcloth?"

"Sure!" the young boy replied. Not much later, he ran into the kitchen with a pink washcloth in his hands. Juvia put the washcloth in the bowl until it was soaked and carried the bowl with the washcloth in it upstairs to where she had learned Natsu's room was.

She creaked open the door and peaked inside; in the bed she saw Natsu's pink hair coming out above the blankets and she heard him groan in pain and clear discomfort. "Natsu-san?" she called inside. She heard the blankets ruffling and saw Natsu turning towards the side of the door as she had walked inside and put the bowl next to Natsu's bed.

She placed a hand on his forehead and exclaimed "You really are burning up Natsu-san!". Natsu looked up at her with squinted eyes and just uttered "Juvia?"

"Don't worry Natsu-san. Juvia will nurse you back to health," she said as she got the wet washcloth out of the bowl with water and put it on Natsu's forehead. "Here you go. This should reduce the fever and any possible headaches," she explained and Natsu smiled "Thank you Juvia," Natsu said. Juvia shook her head and said "It's nothing Natsu. If you're able to survive for now, I'll go get Happy ready and bring him to school, okay?" Juvia asked the pink haired male. Natsu just nodded as he felt his eyes fall down again. Juvia ruffled his hair as she said "Sleep tight Natsu-san," and left the room to get Happy ready

Everything went well luckily and while Juvia made Happy'ss bento, Happy got ready himself so she could bring him to school and still get on her work in time.

During lunch break however, she couldn't help herself thinking about the pinket. How would he be feeling right now. Would he survive the day on his own? Would things have gotten worse? Maybe she should ask him how he was doing.

Just when she was thinking about this, her phone vibrated and she saw that she had one unread message from Natsu.

 _'Hey Juvia, I'm feeling even worse than this morning. Could you pick up Happy from school?'_

The text read and Juvia replied

"Sure. Anything else you need?"

 _'It would be really nice if you could get some painkillers and fever reducers but don't feel pressured. I'm already really thankful that you can pick up Happy from school'_

"It's nothing Natsu. I'll get the painkillers and fever reducers too." she answered the text

On the other side of the phone, Natsu was smiling at his phone as he plopped back into his pillow and let his eyes fall down. His head throbbed and he was so cold. That fever really was getting the best of him. But it certainly was nice to know that he had Juvia by his side to help him through this. He snuggled back under the covers and quickly felt asleep again

Juvia was done early with work today so she went to the pharmacy to pick up the painkillers and fever reducers for Natsu and hurried over to Happy's school after that. Her kids were with her ex-husband this week so she would most definitely run into him here while picking up Happy. And he would ask her annoying questions and keep asking and be suspicious of her picking up the kid of another man. But Juvia didn't even care one bit today. She would just pick up Happy, go to the grocery store for some ingredients to make soup and dinner at Natsu's house and bring Happy home and care for Natsu.

When Juvia arrived at the school, Happy just got out of school with her own kids. Happy was clearly looking around to spot Natsu's pink hair that he could normally always pick up from the crowd pretty easily while her own kids said goodbye to him and wen to their dad. When Bora was nowhere near in sight anymore, Juvia stepped forward and waved to get Happy's attention. When he spotted the blue haired woman, he ran up to her and asked her "Where's daddy? Is he still feeling as bad as this morning?"

Juvia nodded and ruffled the kid's hair "Don't worry Happy. Natsu-san will be okay. Juvia got his medicins in the car so he'll feel better by this evening."

"Who's that kid?" Bora asked Ur and Gray when they got into their car. "What kid?" they asked in unison "The blue haired kid that Juvia was picking up from school."

"Oh. That's Happy," Ur explained "Natsu's kid"

 _'That Natsu again huh? Seems like I finally found something to use against her...'_

When Juvia and Happy returned from the grocery store and went into Natsu and Happy's house, Happy immediately ran off to Natsu's bedroom. Juvia dropped off the groceries in the kitchen and followed Happy upstairs to Natsu's room; the room she had shared with the pink haired male on Christmas Eve. She remembered waking up in this exact room, smelling the scent of the exact same cover that were still lying on the bed right now and looking at the picture of Natsu's deceased wife on his bedstand.

She looked down at the bulge in the blankets where Natsu was laying and where Happy was currently snuggling underneath the blankets with his sleeping form. She looked at his sleeping face and smiled; he looked so cute and innocent like this. With his eyes closed shut and his brow tensed a bit, the sweat running down his forehead and his hair sticking to it. That was right, Natsu was still seriously ill. This was no time to be lazing around!

She felt his forehead and immediately felt just how bad it was "Oh God Natsu, you're really burning up!" she exclaimed just a bit too loud, waking up Natsu who groaned before opening his eyes and sitting up weakly. He noticed his blue haired son curled up against his chest and said "Don't worry Happy. It's not like I'll die or something. It's just the flu."

Happy looked up and held out his pinky "Promise?" Natsu grabbed Happy's pinky with his own and said "Promise. Could you perhaps bring me a glass of water?"

Happy nodded and spurted off. Only when he heard those little feet on the stairs, he slumped down again and told Juvia "I'm so happy you guys are here. I honestly thought for one moment that I would die for real." and ended his sentence with a light chuckle at the end. "Juvia brought the things Natsu asked for as well," Juvia said as she got the fever reducers and pain killers from her bag. Natsu flashed her a smile as she put them down on the nightstand. "Don't forget to take one of these when Happy brings the water. Juvia will get some soup running on the stove so Happy and Juvia can eat. She'll leave some for Natsu-san too if he'd feel better by tonight." Juvia said and when she was about to walk out of the room, Natsu called after her "Hey Juvia," he said and Juvia turned around "What is it?" she asked. "Could you perhaps... stay the night?" he asked "For when it gets bad again, I mean." Natsu tried to save himself. Was he saying all this because of his fever or because he actually wanted to have Juvia stay the night with him?

Just then, Happy ran into the room again with a glass of water and said "Yeah! Juvia should stay! It'll be fun!"

"Juvia guesses she doesn't really has a choice then." she said and Natsu smiled. She got downstairs with Happy to make soup together, leaving Natsu in his room alone to get some more rest.

Natsu woke up again when the whole room had turned dark and looked on the alarm clock on his bedside table. 11:51 PM. His head was pounding again and he felt cold so he sat up and took one pill of the two different kinds.

Juvia was woken up by Natsu taking his pills. So he was feeling bad again. She went back to sleep, she had to get up early tomorrow morning for her job and to bring Happy to school. She was trying to sleep again when suddenly she felt arms sneak around her. The feverish hot body scooted closer to her and suddenly he whispered "I love you ..."

Juvia was shocked. Not because those three words but because of what came after. She knew that sentence wasn't meant for her; 'cause after those three words came a name she wasn't familiar with. When she thought about it, she realized it was most likely the name of Natsu's deceased wife that looked so much like her. She couldn't blame him though. When still drugged on sleep, his fever and the pain killers and fever reducers; he could easily think this was all a dream and he got the chance to sleep with his wife again. He had sounded so happy when he had whispered those three words to her; not knowing that it wasn't his wife lying with him in bed, but his colleague and even boss. But for one reason or an other, she didn't seem to mind that much either way.

When Juvia woke up the next morning thanks to the alarm, she was confused again. Again she woke up in a strange bed with strange covers and a strange smell. She quickly realised it was Natsu's bed this time. The only thing weird about it this time was that Natsu wasn't laying in it despite being really sick, even last night a bit before midnight.

She got up and rubbed her eyes as she yawned. She made her way to the bathroom and refreshed herself before getting dressed. When she walked down the stairs, she found Natsu sitting at the kitchen table looking groggily while Happy was eating breakfast. The coffee standing before him was untouched, just like the breakfast he had made for himself. "Natsu?" Juvia called out to him and he seemed to snap out of a daze. "Oh, hey Juvia. Did you sleep well?" he asked her and she nodded as she walked up to him and placed her hand on his forehead. "You still have a high fever Natsu-san, you should really rest some more..."

Natsu looked up slowly and shook his head "I can't go back to sleep. I have to go to work," he told her and Juvia hit him on the head "Did that fever destroy your brain Natsu-san!? You can't possibly be thinking about going to work like this!".

"But I haven't been to work yesterday already; I can't stay home. I need the money."

Juvia walked back upstairs and when she came back, she handed Natsu his pajama and the medicins. "Here, take them, change into your pajama and rest. Juvia will bring Happy to school. Should Natsu-san not feel better when school is out, send Juvia a text and she'll get Happy from school," Juvia told the pinket who got up and grabbed the pajama before heading up again.

Happy was finishing up breakfast and Juvia was making his bento for school when Natsu came down the stairs again, this time dressed in his pajamas again.

Happy ran towards him and hugged his legs, not reaching any higher than that. Natsu crouched down and kissed Happy's forehead "Have fun at school, okay?"

Happy nodded and kissed Natsu's cheek, running off afterwards to get his jacket. Juvia said goodbye to Natsu too and followed after Happy with the blue haired boy's backpack.

As soon as they had left, Natsu dragged himself to the couch and lied down on it. A little bit of rest was really welcome now, even though he just told Juvia he would be just fine...

He just didn't want to be a burden to her, or his co-workers or Happy... especially not to Happy.

He still remembered how his wife had started to feel weak thanks to a disease she was born with. A pregnancy would be a huge risk, yet she didn't want to be a burden to him by not being able to carry kids for him and she got pregnant either way.

That way of thinking had led to her death. She didn't have enough strenght left at the end of her pregnancy to succesfully go through birth and right after their son had been born, she had died holding Happy in one arm, and holding Natsu's hand with the other...

As warm tears rolled down his cheeks, Natsu sunk into a deep slumber; his head still pounding because of the fever.

 _"I just feel so lonely at times like this..."_


	7. Valentine's Day

**_The Ups and Downs of Being a Single Dad: Valentine_**

A month had passed since Natsu had gotten sick and everything went back to normal fairly quickly. That was until Natsu called to work saying he wouldn't be able to come to the company that day. Juvia didn't hear about it until late that day when she was about to leave work for home and overheard a conversation between Makarov and Macao:

"Natsu called in sick again?", Macao asked the head of the company. The old grey haired man answered Macao "Ah, let him be. You know what today is right? He's probably just out of it. He said he'd be back by tomorrow."

Juvia told them she'd be off and started thinking _'You know what today is right? He's probably just out of it…'_ spooked around in her head. She dug and dug and dug around in her mind. What was today for a special day anyway? Was she forgetting something. She drove through town and suddenly saw the shops stalling out flowers and chocolate when she remembered _'It's Valentine's Day!'_

Was this why Natsu had called in sick, was he still not over his dead wife not being with him on Valentine's day and just needed a day off? Or perhaps he found himself a new girlfriend here in Magnolia and he was spending the day with her?

Juvia felt like she should go check on him for a reason that was unknown to even her but she found herself driving in the direction of the Dragneel residence either way.

Happy knew what today was, his dad was always a bit out of it today. He got out of bed late, called in sick to his job and had just been laying down on the couch until Happy had gotten ready himself.  
Now the cheerful blue boy was home again and he ran upstairs, leaving his dad alone so he could overthink whatever bugged him every year again on this certain day.

That was when he suddenly heard the doorbell ring. Weird, his dad hadn't said anything about someone coming over… He didn't hear Natsu make an effort to get up and get the door downstairs so he ran downstairs and opened the door himself. To his surprise it was Juvia standing in the opening of the door. "Juvi-nee! Did daddy call you?" Happy asked.

 _'There he goes again with the 'Juvi-nee''_. Juvia thought as she shook her head "No, but Natsu-san called in sick to work so Juvia came to check on him; perhaps he had fallen victim to the flu again," she said with a smile and Happy showed her in.

"No, he's not really sick. He just never really feels really 'good' around this time of the year. I don't know why, but it's always around this time…" Happy explained the bluenette that was already making herself at home, putting her shoes next to where Natsu and Happy's shoes were and putting her jacket away.

She continued into the living room where she found Natsu on the couch, a blanket thrown over him and his face buried into a pillow. Was he sleeping? "Natsu-san?" Juvia asked and all she got as an answer was a groan and a bit later Natsu's face looking up to her as well.

"What are you doing here?" Natsu asked grumpily. "So much appreciation for Juvia when she comes check on Natsu-san because he called in sick to work…" Juvia mockingly said as she picked up a plate and a shirt that Natsu had left lying around.

She neatly folded the black shirt before putting it down on the table again so Natsu could put it away later and put the filthy plate in the kitchen. When she had done that, she went back to the living room and sat down on the couch where Natsu was still lying down "What's the problem Natsu-san?" she asked him and Natsu looked up again; this time sitting up and looking at her. Juvia couldn't help but let her eyes drift to Natsu's toned chest for a moment when he sat up and the blankets fell off his body revealing that well trained upper body.

"It's nothing, just something stupid…" Natsu mumbled and looked down again.  
"Come on Natsu-san, just tell Juvia. Juvia promises she won't laugh at you," she smiled kindly and Natsu felt something familiar in that smile which made his eyes sting again with fresh tears.

"It's just so fucking stupid. I mean, it's been five years; I should be over it by now, shouldn't I? And yet every Valentine's day I'm still sobbing about her," Natsu said as a single tear rolled down his cheek. _'So it was about his wife after all…'_ Juvia thought as she put a comforting hand on Natsu's back. "It's okay Natsu. No one expects you to be over her death already, except maybe your brother but he's an asshole… Natsu-san can mourn about her as long as he needs to; no one will expect something else from you." Juvia explained him "It must be rough to lose someone you loved so much… How long has Natsu-san been married?" Juvia asked

"We were only married for one and a half year when we got Happy…" Natsu told her. "Natsu-san doesn't blame Happy-kun for this, right?"  
"Of course I don't. I could never do that, he's my only son and family left. And he looks so damn much like her," Natsu said as he broke down in tears and buried his face into Juvia's chest for comfort. Juvia awkwardly hugged the pinket back and patted his back as he cried.

After a while, Natsu removed his head from Juvia's chest and wiped his eyes dry. "I'm sorry," he told her and looked down. Juvia shook her head "It's okay Natsu-san," she told him with a smile "How about this, Natsu-san takes a shower and try to relax a bit and Juvia will make dinner for the three of us," Juvia proposed. Natsu seemed to processing this when he finally nodded. He got up and went upstairs, taking the discarded T-shirt with him.

Juvia went to the kitchen and opened the fridge while Natsu was upstairs taking his shower, she would make something nice to make Natsu-san smile again. Why she wanted that so desperately? No idea.

When the meat was in the oven and the rice was cooking, Juvia went upstairs to ask Happy if he wanted to help her cutting vegetables. But when she walked past the bathroom where she heard the shower running, she also heard something else that got her attention. A small, soft moan or whimper of some sort coming from inside the bathroom. _'Is Natsu-san hurt!?'_ she thought in panic and just before she wanted to storm inside the bathroom to see if he was okay, she heard Natsu moan out a name. A name she had heard before that one night when she had spent the night here with Natsu when he was sick. The name of his deceased wife…

 _'Is Natsu-san...'_ she asked herself as she listened closely to the door of the bathroom to hear if she could make out more. When she pressed her ear against the bathroom door, she indeed heard soft moans and whimpers and the sound of meat hitting meat inside the shower. The sounds were softened by the door in between them and the sound of the running shower, but she was almost sure of what he was doing in that shower

 _'Is Natsu-san really doing that!? Of course he is, what else could he be doing there? Juvia did tell him to relax, Juvia guesses that's a way to relax too…'_ , she thought and walked away from the door, her cheeks tinted red and forgetting what she came upstairs to do in the first place.

When not much later Natsu came downstairs Juvia had to look away from him. Partly because of what she had heard not so long ago while he was in the shower, but partly too because he just looked stunning. He was still drying his hair with the towel and wore a black tank top and his sweatpants dangerously low.

Juvia shook her head, she couldn't think that way about a co-worker, especially not after what she had heard. She would never even have a change with him anyway…  
But hey, thinking Natsu looked hot was just stating the facts; it didn't mean she was falling for him. Of course not, how had she been so stupid to think that.

"I'll go call Happy, okay?" he asked her and she snapped out of her wild imagination. "O-Oh! Yes, of course." She said and Natsu laughed at how silly she must've sounded. When he was out of the kitchen, she wished she could sink through the floor...

They ate together in peace and when she got ready to leave again, she saw the smile on Natsu's face as he let her out. She had succeeded in making him smile again… Seeing that made her smile too, today was a good day after all.


	8. Juvia's Birthday

_**Juvia's birthday (The Ups and Downs of Being a Single Dad Ch. 7)**_

 _There is no official birthday for Juvia; this date (23-02) is the birthday of her voice actress in Fairy Tail_

 _ **Update 23-02-2017**_

It was a normal Thursday in February. Or so Natsu thought as he pulled up to Magnolia Inc. after dropping Happy off at school. But when he arrived at the floor where he worked, he immediately noticed the festive decorations and the cake "What's happening?" he asked one of his co-workers since he couldn't seem to figure it out.  
"It's Juvia's birthday today," Laki informed him and Natsu looked surprised. How could he not know that, he was pretty close to Juvia; well, he thought so at least.

Then suddenly, the familiar blue hair appeared in the door and Natsu's face turned to where she was standing. Suddenly everyone yelled "Happy Birthday!" and Juvia looked up surprised.  
"Guys, you really shouldn't have done all this for Juvia."

Natsu kept a bit on the background as the rest of the co-workers felicitated her with her birthday. The cake was divided and Natsu ate his share of it. That was when he finally got a chance to talk to Juvia who was eating a piece of cake herself too.

"Happy birthday," he told her and she smiled at him "Thank you Natsu-san, Juvia didn't think you would know when her birthday was."  
Natsu laughed and said "I didn't. It was Laki who told me…"  
"Juvia could've guessed…" she laughed when suddenly Natsu and Juvia were joined by a few other co-workers. "We should go drink something tomorrow evening to celebrate," one of them said. "Well, the kids are with Bora this weekend, so Juvia should be free," she commented after which she turned to Natsu "How about you Natsu-san? Will you be coming too?" she asked the pinket.

"I'll have to ask Gray if he can babysit Happy, if he's okay with it I will surely be attending. It's been a while since I've last been out drinking with friends," he laughed.

When Natsu was working that afternoon at his desk filling in some papers, someone knocked on the door "Come in," he said as he typed some number in on his computer. The door opened and revealed the woman with blue hair "Juvia, did you need something?" he asked her. The bluenette shook her head and raised the package she was holding to tell she was just bringing something.

"There was some leftover cake, so Juvia thought she'd share it with Natsu-san. She thought maybe Happy would like it," she told Natsu and he smiled "Thanks. I'm sure he'll appreciate it," Natsu answered her with a smile.

"By the way, I sent Gray a text; I'll be joining you guys tomorrow evening," Natsu told her and Juvia smiled "Juvia is happy to hear that. She will send you the details later."

Natsu walked to his car after work with the package Juvia gave him underneath his arm and checking his phone; Juvia had sent him the details about their night out tomorrow. They would be going to a small bar just down the street where he lived so he could leave the car at home.

He put the package on the seat next to him in the front and drove off to Happy's school to pick up his son.

The young boy ran out of the school gates and right into Natsu's arms, who picked him up and asked him "How was school?". As Happy started to tell him what he had done at school, Natsu carried him to the car smiling.  
He put the young boy down and held open the car door for him.  
Happy got in the car and so did Natsu, reaching next to him for the package and giving it to Happy who was sitting behind him. "Here, Juvia gave this to me. It's some leftover cake from her birthday party at work," Natsu explained and Happy accepted the package excitedly when he heard about what was in it.

While Natsu was driving home, he looked in the mirror and saw his son eating the cake as if he hadn't eaten cake in forever. Which probably was that way too… The last time they had eaten cake was probably on his last birthday, which had been in May… That indeed had been a while.  
He smiled to himself as he noticed the chocolate around Happy's mouth from the messy eating before focusing again on the road where the lights had turned green again.

While he was cooking that evening, he told Happy "Gray will be babysitting you tomorrow evening."  
"Hmm?" Happy looked up "Do you need to go out for work again?" the young boy asked.  
"No. We're going out to celebrate Juvia's birthday with a few people I work with," Natsu explained as he finished the food. "Oh…" Happy said sadly, he didn't mind Gray babysitting him; Gray was a fun guy so he had no problem with that whatsoever. He just didn't want his dad to leave him; when he was younger that happened all the time because he had to go out late for work because Natsu desperately wanted that promotion so he could be a better father…

"Hey," Natsu said as he ruffled Happy's hair. "It's just this once, okay?" Natsu asked "If you really don't want me to go, I can always tell them it doesn't work out for me after all."  
Happy shook his head "No, you should go. I'm old enough to survive a night without you."

Natsu smiled and put scooped some dinner on their plates. As they ate in silence, Natsu thought _'Is this really okay? Am I being an okay dad? I don't know anymore…'  
_ "Daddy?" Happy asked "Hmm," Natsu hummed as he looked up "I love you!" Happy exclaimed and Natsu smiled. Maybe he was an okay dad after all…

Natsu went to bed early that night, dozing off in bed around 11PM already. Happy joined a little after midnight and slept tightly curled up next to his dad. Waking up the next morning, Natsu wasn't really surprised anymore to find the little blue haired boy in his bed by now. It really had become a regular occurrence but Natsu didn't mind it that much; after all, now he had someone to fill the emptiness in his bed again…

That evening, after a long day of work while Natsu was lazing a bit watching TV with Happy, the doorbell rang. Natsu got up and when he opened the door, Gray was standing in the opening "Happy, Gray is here!" Natsu yelled as he let Gray in and took his jacket and shoes with him inside.

Natsu put on his shoes and jacket and wrapped his scarf around his neck when Happy suddenly tackled him in a hug. Natsu hugged back his son and patted his head when he heard a sob escaping the young boy. "You really don't want me to stay at home?" Natsu asked and Happy shook his head as he looked up to the pinket, tears lined up in his eyes "I'll be a good boy," Happy told his father and Natsu had to swallow back tears for a bit too when he saw the first tears roll down his son's face. He always had a hard time watching his son cry, watching that face that resembled his mothers' so much cry was like watching his wife cry again.

Natsu wiped the tears away with his thumb and kissed the young boy's forehead. "I'm sure you will," he told Happy as he got up again and walked towards the door. Only when the door fell into the lock again, Happy's tears started streaming down his face freely. Normally he didn't mind his father leaving home like this; but for one reason or the other, it felt different again, it felt wrong to let the pinket leave the house tonight…

Gray walked up to the blue haired kid and ruffled his hair "So… What are we gonna do? How about snacks and TV?" he proposed and immediately a smiled lit up Happy's face again. Gray always knew what to say to make this kid happy again; the amount of times he had to babysit Happy since his birth already made him really know the kid…

When Natsu arrived at the bar, the biggest part of the group was there already and they quickly ordered a beer for him too. However he tried to stay sober, that plan failed when his co-workers kept ordering beers for him too. He got tipsy fairly easy and told them he needed to stop drinking, but to no avail. They kept ordering beers for him too, yelling "Chug Chug Chug Chug!" for him to drink the beer ad fundum. When the clock indicated 11 PM, he was about drunk. He excused himself to the bathroom and relieved himself from the beer that had rapidly filled his bladder. When he got out of the bathroom again, he bumped into Juvia. Juvia herself had drunk a copious amount of alcohol too and looked dazed as she watched Natsu in front of her.

Suddenly, something spiked up inside of Natsu, something that came so sudden that he had neither expected it, nor could he control this. He pushed Juvia to the wall, shielding them from the rest of the bar with one arm and kissed her.

Juvia didn't know what was happening. One moment, she was just on her way to use the bathroom; the other, Natsu had pinned her against the wall and his lips were pressed on hers. His lips felt so gentle and this whole thing felt so weirdly right. Like she had been waiting for this for a while now.

She didn't know what came over her as she started kissing him back. Just for a moment; that was when they both pulled back, shocked by what had just happened. Luckily no one had seen them. Juvia hurried off into the bathroom and Natsu headed back to their table, where he took his stuff and told his co-workers he would be off.  
By the time Juvia returned to their table, Natsu had been long gone…

When Natsu came back home, he fiddled with his keys until he finally succeeded in opening the lock; when he got indoors, he could hear the TV playing in the living room. He stumbled through the hallway and that was when he realised that he maybe did had a bit too much to drink… That was when he thought back at what he had done just before he left, he had kissed Juvia! Why had he even done that? He was very close with Juvia, but not that close. And she was still officially married to her husband; and he still loved his deceased wife!  
She had just looked so much like his wife at that moment, her gaze gently directed towards him and her blue hair flowing over her shoulders. He hadn't been able to control himself, the alcohol in his brain telling him that it was indeed his wife standing in front of him and he had felt so happy to be able to kiss her again…

When he reached the living room, he didn't see anyone sitting on the couch even though the TV was still playing. He walked over to the couch and found one of the cutest things there. He pulled out his smartphone and snapped a picture of the scene.

Gray was sleeping on the couch, legs and arms sprawled over the place while happy had just placed himself on top of the raven haired male, one of Gray's arms was holding Happy close so the young boy wouldn't fall off the couch if he moved in his sleep.

Natsu decided to let the two of them be now they were sleeping so cute together and moved to his bed to sleep, he would probably have a hangover in the morning…

…He had been right…

The next morning when Natsu woke up, his head pounded like someone was hitting him on the head with a heavy stone, the light shining through his window didn't really help a lot and he tried to hide himself back underneath the blankets in an attempt to go back to his dreams where he didn't have a terrible headache yet.

Then, something inside of him said that he should probably go downstairs and check on Happy; the young boy hadn't climbed into his bed tonight, even though he had been crying when he left yesterday.

He stumbled down the stairs, his head hurt so much; he would have to take something for that once he came downstairs.  
When he walked into his kitchen, he noticed Gray eating breakfast with Happy. "Gray? What are you doing here?" Natsu asked; and that was when he realised that he couldn't remember a majority of last night. He still remembered that his co-workers had given him copious amounts of alcohol to drink, but he couldn't remember a lot more than that. He still knew he went to the bathroom, but after that; everything got really blurry.  
He did remember having that really realistic dream about kissing his wife again though…

"Seems you had a little too much to drink if you don't remember last night anymore," Gray said with a chuckle. Natsu just groaned as he was once more reminded of his headache…

Juvia woke up with the same problem Natsu had; a terrible headache and her memories blurry. She had drunk a lot of alcohol and maybe a bit too much. She could barely remember what happened last night. Everything was very blurry; she remembered she had fun with her friends from her workplace and she remembered that Natsu had left early. She couldn't remember why anymore though; it probably had something to do with Happy.

She plopped down on her pillow again and quickly fell asleep again, she highly doubted that she would be doing a lot of other things that day…


	9. Custody Rights, Custody Fights?

_**Update 09-04-2017**_

 _ **Since a few people noticed that there are now two Gray's in the story (Juvia's son and Natsu's friend), here's the explanation:**_

 _ **Gray was orignally not going to be a major character in the story so I introduced him as Juvia's son; but later on, I decided that Natsu needed a good friend and couldn't think of anyone else than Gray. And since Gray (Natsu's friend) is gonna play a pretty major part in a few chapters and Gray (Juvia's son) will not really play a major part... That's why there are two Grays.**_

As Easter came by, so did another break. One week had passed and Natsu hadn't heard a single thing from Juvia.

Natsu really had hoped she would let him know something, anything. He didn't know why he expected her to do so; exept for the time with Christmas and when he was sick, she had never called or texted him first. And even those times had been of his initiative.

After sitting over fifteen minutes on the couch with the number on his phone, he decided to finally call her. Happy was playing at some friend's house so he wouldn't have to worry about being interrupted. He waited a few minutes with the phone at his ear when suddenly her phone went over into voicemail. Would she have pressed him away or was she really not anywhere close to her phone right now? Natsu didn't know.

Natsu only realised he had fallen asleep when he was abrubtly awoken by the sound of the doorbell ringing. He checked his phone; 5:27 PM and a missed phone call from Juvia. He would go fetch Happy at that kid's house around six so it couldn't be the parents of Happy's friend. He was happy that Juvia had called him back though. Maybe she was at the door. He still didn't know, didn't realize why he wanted to be with her all the time so much. Maybe it was just because he had never had a friend like her before. Maybe it was because she looked like his deceased wife so much. He got up to get the door and when he opened it, he saw the blue haired mage standing in the door opening; she was looking down so Natsu couldn't really see her expression, but from what he saw she looked pretty gloomy.

"Hey Juvia. Come in. Is something the matter?" he asked her as he closed the door behind him. When he turned around again he saw Juvia standing right in front of him with tears in her eyes. "J-Juvia?" he asked worriedly when suddenly she took a step forward and fell into his arms crying. He instinctively held her as he didn't know what else to do.

When the heavy crying had turned into sobs, Natsu picked her up bridal style and put her on the couch "Stay here for a bit, okay?" he asked her "I need to pick up Happy at a friend's house. When I'm back, can you tell me what's going on?" he asked her and she nodded with tears still in her eyes. "In the meantime. Make yourself comfortable, watch some TV or something," he proposed as he took his jacket and left the house.

When he had returned with Happy, the blue haired boy ran upstairs to play, not even looking up weird at the sight of Juvia sitting on their couch. Natsu walked over to the couch and sat down next to her. "Now tell me what's wrong," Natsu told her and she looked at him. The tears that were previously in her eyes had dried up but the usual sparkle had not yet returned to her eyes.

"Bora got Juvia in front of the judge of the court to get full custody of the kids. His argument was that I was cheating on him with Natsu-san because Juvia has been spending so much time with Natsu-san and Happy-kun while she still officially is married to Bora." Juvia told Natsu as tears welled up in her eyes again. "Bora-san had a good lawyer so the judge believed them more than they believed Juvia so now..." Juvia said as she broke down in tears "Now Bora has full custody of the kids and Juvia won't be able to see them anymore."

Natsu's expression hardened. No one, not even her husband, hurt Juvia like that. He got up and pushed his sleeves up "I'll go teach that Bora a lesson, no one hurts a friend of mine like that."

Juvia smiled as she saw how protective Natsu was over her, it gave her a certain feeling of... happiness? She wasn't sure what she was feeling right now but she liked the feel of it, it made her all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

"Natsu-san. Not today, it will only make it worse." Juvia told the pinket who sighed and sat down again. He nodded and said "All right. I hope you did divorce that guy though."

Juvia nodded and smiled as an answer "The papers are all signed, by next week Juvia will officially be single again.

"Let's celebrate that then," Natsu proposed and Juvia nodded with a smile planted on her face "Juvia would love to." she told the pinket and softly added afterwards "Sorry for bothering Natsu-san with Juvia's problems..."

Natsu put his hand on her shoulder and flashed her a reassuring smile "Don't worry. That's what friends are for. Just stay the night and then we'll go beat up that Bora bastard."

"Sure," she answered "Did Natsu-san eat already?" she asked. Juvia had been at the court the whole day after all, she hadn't eaten yet. And now she reminded him, he hadn't got himself something to eat as well. He really didn't want to cook right now and it would be rude to ask Juvia to cook for him so he proposed "How about we order pizza?"

And so they did. They ordered pizza and ate it while they watched a movie on TV; they both enjoyed both the pizza and the movie. When the movie had ended, Natsu handed Juvia a shirt to sleep in and went upstairs to check on Happy since they both hadn't heard a single thing from the young boy since Natsu had picked him up from his friend's house.

Natsu slowly opened the door of Happy's room and noticed the small form lying underneath the covers. "You should've said something..." Natsu whispered to himself as he walked up to the bed, tucked Happy in again and kissed the blue haired boy's forehead "I love you"

Then Natsu walked to his own room and saw Juvia getting comfortable in the bed. He pulled his shirt over his head and dropped his pants, hanging the clothes on a chair in the room before getting underneath the covers himself too. He turned and tossed a bit until he found himself lying comfortable and then realized that he was staring at Juvia's back.

She wouldn't mind, would she?


	10. Feeling Better?

_Update 13-04-2017_

When Juvia woke up for the fourth time since she had started her stay with Natsu, Natsu was lying flat on his back next to her in the bed she had been sharing with him for the last four days now; she had started to getting accustomed to waking up with a man next to her in bed again.

She looked over to the pink haired male that was laying flat on his back right now. She let her eyes roam over his body as he silently snored away; his slightly tanned skin rippled over those muscles with every little movement, his chest slowly raise and fell again with every breath he took. As she lowered her eyes to his boxers, that were concealed by the blankets though, she noticed something making a small tent in the blankets. That was when she realised that it was his morning wood standing up. She blushed but knew that this was only natural with guys; Bora had gotten them before too.

She tore her eyes away and reminded herself once more that this body wasn't meant for her and she couldn't possibly fall in love with Natsu. For he was still in love with his former wife; Juvia still reminded what he had said when he had that fever. He had hugged her close and whispered 'I love you' with the name of his wife right after.

But she had to stop pondering about all this. She would never have a chance with him either way. She didn't even have special feelings other than friendship for her pink haired friend. She got up and silently went downstairs. Once she was downstairs, she found Happy watching TV and said "Good Morning. Is Happy-kun hungry?"

Happy nodded firmly and Juvia looked at the clock. It was almost noon already.

She decided that she would make a small brunch for the three of them as she looked into the fridge and found eggs and bacon.

Natsu slowly woke up to the scent of eggs and bacon and sleepily made his way downstairs, practically sleepwalking. When he arrived in the kitchen, he found Happy eating toast with eggs and bacon and Juvia standing in front of the stove finishing the last of the eggs and bacon. He noticed a plate set out for him with eggs, bacon and toast, accompanied by his 'World's best dad' mug filled with coffee. He smiled and said "You really went all out."

"Juvia guessed she could at least make the two of you a nice brunch as a thanks for letting Juvia stay here," she said.

"Don't worry about that. You can stay here for as long as you want," Natsu said as he started stuffing his mouth with the food "This is really good!"

After they ate, Juvia told the two of them "Juvia will be needing to leave for her house today again guys."

"What!" they both yelled in unison. They had started to get accustomed to having a female accompagnion in their house and lives to make everything just that little bit easier. But now she was leaving again!?

"You can't just leave us alone Juvi-nee!" Happy told her and Juvia just answered him "Juvia has to. Juvia needs to get everything up and runnng for the company by Monday. And seeing it is now Saturday, she will need to rush to get everything ready in time already." she explained and watched Happy's smile drop "Don't worry. Happy-kun still has Natsu-san to care for him. Natsu-san has always been doing a good job taking care of you so Happy-kun shouldn't be sad. Juvia will come and visit from time to time," she said as she started seeking her stuff together to leave. Natsu, for a weird reason, felt his heart crumble.

 _Had he fallen in love with her after all?_

She said "Well, goodbye then. I'll see you at work Monday Natsu-san." as she took her bag and left. And when Natsu heard the door close again, his smile dropped and he got up from the kitchen table "I'm going to sleep some more." he informed Happy as he made his way upstairs.

For just one moment, Juvia had hoped for a sign; a sign that Natsu loved her, that he'd stop her from leaving and tried to have her stay at his place for some longer. But he didn't. Her heart sank down in her shoes but she looked up again and smiled, like she had done so many times before; even when she was still with Bora. She was really Happy that starting Tuesday, she would officially be divorced from that asshole, he had done nothing but make her life a living hell for as long as her pregnancy had started.

Happy had noticed in the blink of an eye how Natsu had felt about Juvia leaving and knew that his dad could use all the comfort Happy could possibly give him right now so the little blue haired boy sneaked up the stairs and creaked open the door to his father's bedroom. He saw the form of his father concealed by the blankets and walked into the room. He closed the door again and climbed on top of the bed.

Happy lifted the blankets and revealed Natsu's face, tears dried on his cheeks and new ones in his eyes already. Happy used his thumb to brush the tears away and then kissed his father's cheeks. This was what Natsu always did to Happy when he was crying. Natsu looked into his son's eyes and smiled, muttering a soft "I love you" to the blue haired boy before pulling him into his chest.

Happy managed to turn around in the grip of his father and look him in the eyes "What's wrong daddy?" the innocent boy asked. He had no idea how it could hurt to love someone you shouldn't love; to love someone that couldn't possibly return your love because you ruined her relationship with her husband and her kids, to love someone that you could never even let know how you felt because you were too scared for rejection. It hurt, a lot.

"It seems you were right all along buddy. I did like Juvia after all." Natsu told his son whom's face lit up. "That isn't a moment to be crying then right. Being in love is supposed to be a happy thing, right?" Happy asked. "It is, but love is very complicated Happy. To be happy you sometimes need to shed tears first. You wouldn't understand, you're too young." Natsu explained Happy who nodded in understanding and just snuggled up against his father's chest to comfort him.

Soon the two of them had fallen asleep, curled up against each other and didn't wake up again until way past noon; deciding it was too late to go out and do something so just watching TV on the couch instead.

Even though it hurt that his love would never be returned to him by Juvia, he would always have his own son to return his love equally. 


	11. Bora

_**Update 17-04-2017**_

When Natsu woke up the next morning with Happy still passed out in his arms, he smiled at the sight of the young boys sleeping face and caressed the blue hair. The exact same colour of blue his mother had; sometimes Happy reminded him of his wife; the blue hair, always cheery and a personality that reminded him of his deceased wife ever so often. His mind flashed back to his wife like it did when he was reminded of her.

 _"Natsu!", the cheery voice of his wife called him and he tucked his head around the corner of the kitchen to see what she needed "What is it?"_

 _"Could you help me with this?" she asked and Natsu stepped into the kitchen to see what she was doing. "Just peel these potatoes and cut them in pieces if you want. It would certainly be a big help to me" she told him as she flashed him a smile he couldn't possibly resist if he would even think of doing so. While he was cutting the potatoes, he suddenly felt someone hugging him and let go of the knife he was holding "Hey Natsu?" the girl asked and Natsu hummed as he turned around and hugged his wife back "What do you think it's gonna be?" the blue haired girl asked. Natsu shook his head as he placed his hands on her slightly swollen belly "I don't really care. As long as it's healthy and just as beautiful as you," Natsu responded and the girl smiled "And just as kind and handsome as you are."_

The flashback ended and Natsu found himself with a tear rolling down his cheek and two big black eyes staring at him. "Daddy?" the young boy's voice asked him worriedly. Natsu wiped away the tear rolling down his cheek and smiled at his son "I'm okay. I was just thinking about mama," Natsu explained when Happy suddenly rested his head in Natsu's chest "What was mama like?" the young boy asked and that was when Natsu realised something _'That's right! His mother died at birth, he never got to know her; he never even got to see her!?'_

Natsu ruffled the blue hair as he started describing her "She was the most beautiful girl I've ever seen; her hair had the same colour of blue as yours and her eyes were a piercing green colour, every time she started smiling, everyone smiled and it was like the sun started shining just for her. She could cook really nice and... and..." Natsu said as he noticed more tears started streaming down his cheeks. He tried to wipe them away but they kept streaming down his cheeks, dripping on his chest and later Happy's head.

"Do you still love mama?" Happy asked and Natsu nodded "I'm so fucked up. I love my deceased wife but I love another woman too. Why can't I just love one? My heart is breaking!"

Natsu raised his voice as he broke down in tears, his heart being ripped in two by his love for his wife but for Juvia also. He didn't know what he should do. He definitely wasn't over his wife's death enough to even think about confessing how he felt to Juvia and it ate at him.

Suddenly, he was ripped out of his thoughts by two little arms sneaking around his chest and he looked down to see Happy trying to hug him as much as his short arms allowed him to. "Don't worry daddy. Happy will always love you!"

Natsu smiled and ruffled his sons hair "I know Happy. And I will always love you too," Natsu told the blue haired boy and sat up. "Now, what will we do on the last day of our vacation?" Natsu asked the kid. Happy shrugged, not giving it much thought. "I don't know."

Natsu seemed to be thinking when he suddenly said "Aha! I've got it. But it's a surprise."

Happy pouted at this, why couldn't he know what they were going to do? But he jumped out of the bed either way and ran off to his own bedroom to grab some clothes. Natsu got up as well and stretched as he stumbled to the bathroom. He relieved himself and looked in the mirror afterwards. His eyes were red and swollen from all the crying he had done last night and this morning and he sighed. Why did falling in love hurt so much; he couldn't remember this pain from when he had fallen in love with his deceased wife.

Natsu sighed as he felt along his jawline. Stubble was coming back so he would need to shave.

Right when he was in the middle of shaving, Happy walked in with his clothes on and said "Uwa! Daddy changed into Santa Claus!". Natsu chuckled as he continued shaving when he suddenly felt Happy clinging to his leg "Daddy! You need to hurry up. Happy is hungry!" the young boy exclaimed just as his tummy rumbled and Natsu laughed. "I'm almost done. Then I'll make you something nice to eat," Natsu told his son and he felt the boy hug his leg before letting go and running downstairs.

When Natsu walked down the last steps of the stairs fully dressed with a bag slung over his shoulder and walked into the kitchen, he found Happy struggling to get two cups from a cupboard that was just a bit too high for him to reach while he was standing on a chair. Natsu walked up to the boy from behind and picked the figure of the blue haired boy up so he could reach the cupboard. He took two mugs from it. Natsu's 'World's best dad' mug of course needed to be one of them and one with little fishes on it for Happy.

Natsu filled both mugs with milk and warmed the liquid. When the microwaved beeped to indicate the milk had warmed up, Natsu got both mugs out of it and handed one to Happy "Careful. It's hot." Natsu warned his son as he took a sip from his own cup, leaving a bit of milk on his upper lip. Happy started laughing as Natsu turned around to make toast for them. Natsu licked the milk off his upper lip and turned around again "What is it?"

"You had a white moustache," the young boy laughed and Natsu smiled lovingly. "Well, you have too," Natsu told his son as he brushed it away with his thumb. He gave Happy a kiss on his forehead and went back to making toast. Happy smiled at the affection his father gave him. He really loved his dad.

Natsu helped Happy in the car and they departed for the surprise Natsu had planned for Happy. "Before we're going to the surprise, I still have to stop somewhere and then we'll go pick up Gray." Natsu told the blue haired boy.

"Is uncle Gray coming with us!?" The young boy asked and Happy nodded. Natsu still didn't get why Happy liked Gray so much. Gray was an old school friend of Natsu. They never seemed to like each other well in high school but when they went to university together, they became good friends and Natsu often asked Gray to babysit Happy or pick him up from school if he had a meeting after work.

Natsu stopped the car and told Happy "Stay in the car for a bit, I'll be back real soon." Natsu told his son who nodded and started humming a song.

Natsu smiled and got out of the car. This was for real now. He had stopped at Bora's house to tell that guy what he thought about everything he had done to Juvia. He knew that Juvia wouldn't want him doing this, but it was important for him to get this straight.

Natsu knocked on the door and a little girl with light blue hair in the same colour of Juvia and Happy opened the door. Had Bora seriously replaced Juvia already with another girl with the same hair colour. This couldn't possibly be true, right.

Natsu felt himself get angry; and he had to keep himself under control to not throw the girl out of his way and force his way indoors. "Is Bora here?" He asked instead.

"Bora? There doesn't live a Bora here." The girl said and Natsu tilted his head in confusion "Are you shitting me? Does there live a Bora in the neighbourhood then?" Natsu asked.

The girl shook her head and pondered about this all "But I do think that the previous owner of this house was called Bora. I never really got his name though. But he had two little kids, twins I think."

"Yeah that's Bora. Where is he now? Do you know!?"

"He moved oversees with his kids just this week."

"That Asshole!" Natsu yelled and suddenly a large figure filled the door. The guy had long black hair and piercings in his eyebrows, nose and ears. "Gajeel?" Natsu asked and the guy tilted his head in confusion "Pinky?"

The familiar nickname made Natsu sure of it. This had been one of his other friends in university; Gajeel Redfox. "You've grown Pinky. Why don't you come in for a bit?" the black haired guy asked Natsu. "I'm sorry. I'll have to pass. My son is waiting for me in the car." Natsu said "You've got a kid!? Get him out here. I wanna see what someone like you produced." Gajeel roared and Natsu looked down. There were the jokes again. "Sure. Wait just a minute."

Natsu walked to the car and got Happy out of it. "We're unexpectedly meeting up with one more friend of mine. "Yay!" Happy cheered as Natsu picked him up and put him down next to the car. Happy took Natsu's hand as they walked to the door where Gajeel and Levy were still waiting. Gajeel picked up Happy underneath his arms and seemed to be inspecting him "These are actually pretty cute. Hey Levy, why don't we make a bunch of these?" he asked his girlfriend who started blushing immediately.

"I'd love to talk to you more but I need to get busy with Levy here," Gajeel said as he handed Happy back to Natsu who carried him properly "Are you seeing anyone right now?" The black haired guy asked Natsu.  
Natsu shook his head "No, I'm kinda busy. But I'll let you 'get busy'. I promised Happy a surprise." He said as he started walking back to his car.

Gajeel closed the door and told his girlfriend "Seems like Pinky has it good. So how about we do something about that too?"

When they were both ready for their trip to Gray and the surprise Natsu had planned for the three of them, they drove off.

As they arrived at Gray's place, he was already waiting at the street and got in the car from the moment Natsu stopped "Hey squinty-eyes. You're late!" Gray told him. "Fuck you Droopy eyes. I met Gajeel on the way here."  
"Nice how's he doing?"  
"He has a girl now. They seemed to be very close. I wish things would work out for me that way."  
"Your time will come. For now, you have the blue brat, right?" Gray said as he looked in the back to where Happy was sitting "Right buddy?"  
"Right!" Happy yelled and he high fived Gray.

"So, where are we going?" Gray asked and Natsu answered him "I guess I can tell you now. We're going to the Zoo!" Natsu told the two of them, making both of them, even Gray, gasp in excitement.

After half an hour of driving, they finally arrived at the zoo and when Natsu got Happy out of his seat, the little blue haired boy practically jumped out of the car and tried to run off in excitement; only to be picked up by Gray before he got too far.

They walked into the zoo altogether and had a fun day watching the animals and playing around. Now they were walking to the souvenir shop. Both Natsu and Gray holding one of Happy's hands who was walking in between them. Some people stared at them and some other just smiled. That was when Gray realized that they indeed did look like a gay couple with their adopted child.

Natsu didn't seem to mind too much; already used to the stares he got when he sometimes walked around alone with Happy. And already used to go on trips to the zoo with Happy.

When they got in the souvenir shop, Happy told them he had to use the bathroom  
"You sure you'll be fine alone. I can go with you," Natsu proposed but Happy shook his head "Happy is a big boy. I can do it alone."  
"That's good. Go ahead then." Natsu said as he ruffled Happy's hair and watched the blue haired boy run off.

He turned to Gray who had been silent for a while now. "Did you have a bit of a fun day too?" Natsu asked and Gray nodded "It was fun with Happy and you."

Natsu smiled "That's good. We need to plan things like this more often. I think Happy really enjoyed it." Natsu told the raven haired male.  
"Yeah. Hey, Natsu?" Gray asked and Natsu hummed  
"Don't you mind that people looked at us as if we were a gay couple?"  
"Nah, it's fine. Don't mind them. People have called the police once because they thought I was a paedophile. It's really nothing." Natsu said and saw Gray was looking kinda weird at him.

"Do you mind then?" Natsu asked. If it bothered Gray that much, he should've just said something, right.  
Gray shook his head "No, I don't mind. Actually, I…" Gray started and suddenly pressed his lips on Natsu's. Natsu was taken back by his action's for a moment. He knew this was wrong, he loved Juvia. But he didn't want to let Gray down, give him this one moment before he would have to break his heart and one hand went up to Gray's hair and pushed the raven haired male closer for just a second before pulling back.

Gray looked flushed when Natsu was done with him, hopeful too perhaps.  
"I'm sorry, I can't." Natsu whispered "I'd better go look how Happy's doing."

Not much later, Natsu returned with Happy and guided both of them to the car. The ride back home was awkward and silent. Happy had fallen asleep and Gray and Natsu didn't really talk to each other; both still processing what had happened back there.

Gray was kinda happy when they stopped at his home, but kinda sad too. Had he ruined a perfect friendship with Natsu only to show Natsu his feelings, he even got rejected too.

Gray got out of the car and Natsu followed him. "Gray!" he yelled after the raven haired male. "I hope we can still be friends."

"If you want to Natsu; I guess I made things pretty awkward between us." Gray told the pinket. Natsu smiled and told Gray "No homo bro."  
Gray smiled as well and said "All the homo Natsu. Hey, are you seeing someone right now that you 'couldn't' or is it just me that you repent from. "Nah I'm not seeing anyone. But I've recently admitted to myself that I'm in love with a co-worker. But I'm not at all over the death of my wife to even think about loving her. I needed to get it out of my mind for a bit. And you helped me with that. Thanks bruh." Natsu said. Gray held out his fist and Natsu hit it with his own fist before walking back to the car. "I've got to get my son to bed I think. He looks pretty tired," Natsu said as he looked over to the car where Happy was still sleeping.  
Gray smiled and walked to his front door. Natsu would be the ideal husband to anyone; that co-worker sure was lucky to have someone like Natsu love her.


	12. Juvia's Realisation

_**Juvia's realisation**_

Natsu had been struggling with his newfound feelings for Juvia for a few weeks now when he finally called in help.

"What did you need help with?" Gray, who had come over after work, asked Natsu over dinner. Happy was currently at a friend's house having a sleepover. "I told you about that co-worker I liked two weeks ago, right?" Natsu said and Gray's mind flashed back to last week, when he had kissed Natsu and was rejected for that same co-worker. Gray nodded. "I know it might be a bit weird to ask you of all people this, but how can I get closer to her and maybe confess?" Natsu timidly asked and Gray smiled. Natsu had come to him for help on that?

"Why'd you ask me of all people?", the ravenet asked. "Because you had the courage to kiss me all of a sudden two weeks ago. How did you do that when I can't even get much further than a strict work-related relationship?"

Gray chuckled "Because we were great friends to begin with. I've known you since middle school."  
"That's true…"  
"Maybe you should try getting closer to her first. Talk to her more on your job or something, ask her out for a drink after work, … stuff like that. You'll manage," Gray told the pinket as he finished his plate and said "I should go. I've still got some work stuff to take care of myself." And got up to take his jacket and shoes.

Natsu followed him into the hallway and said "Thanks. You should come over more; Happy really seems to like you, and I don't mind you around either…"  
Gray blushed madly and stuttered "I-I'll see what I can do. I'm pretty busy though… Just ring me up when you need a babysit for Happy ."

"Sure thing, then I'll see you again! Bye Gray!" Natsu yelled after the raven haired guy.

Juvia was just getting comfortable on her couch with some snacks and her favourite show when she got a text message. She took her phone praying it wasn't about work. On a Sunday evening like this, she really did not want any last minute work coming her way. When she unlocked her phone, she found the message came from Natsu; work after all then?

She opened the message and it said ' _Hey Juvia, I wanted to check with you if you got my mail regarding the preparation of the meeting for tomorrow? And if you want, maybe we could grab some drinks after work?'  
_

Natsu sat on his couch, feeling unsure. Did he really just sent that? Wouldn't Juvia think it was weird for him to ask her to grab some drinks after work? What if she rejected him because she thought he was already asking her out? "I shouldn't have sent that!" Natsu told himself and realised he had maybe been a bit loud when Happy was suddenly standing downstairs again next to the couch asking him "Is something the matter daddy?"

"Nah, I'm fine; sorry for worrying you. I'll get you back to bed," Natsu said as he ruffled the young boy's hair and guided him upstairs again. Tucking him into his bed and kissing his forehead with a tender smile. "Good night Happy, sleep well…" he said as he walked out of the room and turned off the light.

When Natsu got downstairs again, he saw his phone was lit up with the notification of a new message. He sat down again and opened the message that he saw came from Juvia. Anxious for her answer, he waited as the message loaded and revealed _'Hi Natsu, I got your e-mail on the preparations, I'm sorry if I forgot to answer; I've been incredibly busy over the weekend. And sure, I'd like to go grab something to drink with you after work_ _'_

Natsu smiled "Yesss!" he whispered enthusiastically. He might still have a chance with her. He didn't want to rush it and ruin everything though, he would have to go slow; but he'd rather have this take years and just enjoy being by her side than trying to rush through this and having her reject him and push him away.

Juvia had caught herself just staring at the screen of her phone and smiling. What was this feeling that she got when Natsu had asked her to go out with him after work? She just kept smiling at that one message _'And if you want, maybe we could grab some drinks after work?'_

She read over the message again and she swore her heart skipped a beat when she read over it again. Was she… falling in love with Natsu?

That couldn't be it, right? She couldn't possibly be falling in love with her co-worker Natsu; the child loving, seemingly perfect pink haired, muscled single dad…  
"Oh God, I am falling in love with Natsu…" she suddenly realised in shock. She had described him in such a way to herself that she couldn't deny it anymore… She had fallen in love with that child loving, seemingly perfect pink haired, muscled single dad Natsu…

She buried her face in a pillow at the thought "Calm down Juvia, you still need to face Natsu-san after this. Natsu-san probably didn't mean anything with it; he just wanted to be friendly towards Juvia." She told herself. Natsu was a nice guy, he probably just wanted to get to know her better. He had after all only been working here since September. He might not have a lot of friends except for her…

Natsu picked up his phone again and dialled the number of his best friend "Hey Gray."

'Hey Natsu, did you need something' the voice on the other side of the phone asked the pinket.  
"Not really, I just wanted to tell you that I did it!"  
'Did what?'  
"I asked Juvia to grab some drinks with me after work like you advised me to do yesterday." Natsu explained.  
'Really, that's great! And… Juvia huh?' Gray asked him and that was when Natsu realised that he had told Gray Juvia's name.  
"Ah!"  
'It's okay, I won't tease you… too much…'  
Natsu stuck out his tongue; Gray wouldn't be able to see it but Natsu didn't mind "That in mind, can you go pick up Happy from school? I should be back by dinner so you don't have to make something." Natsu told his friend over the phone and Gray hummed. 'Sure, I'll go get Happy from school, then you can go drink something with _Juvia_ ' Gray said, emphasizing Juvia's name a bit too much.

"Thanks bro. I knew I could count on you!" Natsu said as he ended the call and laid back in the couch. Tomorrow he would get something to drink with Juvia; he was so happy…

When Natsu woke up again thanks to his alarm, he was still on the couch. Did he fall asleep last night? He yelled from downstairs "Happy! Wake up, It's time for school!"  
"Okay! I'll be right there!" Happy yelled back and Natsu heard the little feet running upstairs. Natsu yawned, sleeping on the couch wasn't as good as sleeping in his own bed, that was for sure. He rubbed out an ache in his back as he stretched and started making coffee and toast.

When Happy came downstairs, he was already dressed and he met Natsu with a hug. Natsu ruffled the young boy's hair as he handed him some toast and a cup of warm milk. As they both ate their breakfast, Natsu told the blue haired boy "Gray is picking you up at school today. I'm gonna get something to drink with Juvia. I'll be back for dinner, maybe Gray can eat with us…" Natsu pondered.

"Okay! What are we gonna eat for dinner?" Happy asked and Natsu shrugged "I don't know. I can get some fish from that place you like it so much on my way home or something."  
Happy's eyes almost started sparkling as Natsu said that and he yelled excitedly "Yes, you should do that! I'm sure uncle Gray would love that too!". Natsu smiled "I'll do that then,' before getting up and going upstairs to get ready too.

He dropped Happy off at school and drove to his work. He would see Juvia now. He would have a meeting first, then work a few hours and then he would go out with Juvia. Well, it was not really going out though… He would just get her a drink and they could talk a little. Natsu would get to know her better and they could become closer friends, maybe Juvia would eventually fall in love with Natsu and they could have a happy future…

That was what Natsu thought at least. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he bumped into Juvia in the parking lot. "Oh hey Natsu-san. Juvia is sorry, Juvia wasn't really paying attention…" she said as she looked up into his olive coloured eyes and a gentle smile met her eyes "It's okay, I should've watched where I was going. I'm still a little tired…"

One meeting and several hours of work later, Natsu and Juvia met outside Natsu's office and walked outside together while talking. Juvia got into Natsu's car and he drove towards the centre of Magnolia, a bustling city where both Natsu and Juvia lived and worked.

Natsu parked his car outside a little coffee shop in a somewhat calmer area of Magnolia. "This is it, a friend of mine works here," Natsu explained and Juvia smiled; making Natsu's heart flutter for just a moment before he calmed himself again and pushed open the door, stepping aside so Juvia could walk in.

"Yo Erza! We'll be in the back!" Natsu yelled and Juvia saw a girl with beautiful scarlet hair coming out of the kitchen "All right, I'll come take your orders in a bit!" the redhead yelled back and Juvia followed Natsu to the outside of the coffee shop. It had been warmer for a few weeks in Magnolia now, so they could sit outside and enjoy the sun. To Juvia's surprise, there was no one else sitting outside, even though she thought it was so beautiful out there.

The 'outside' was in a kind of garden surrounded by trees; there was a small stream of water that ended in a little pond where she could see fish swimming around. There were flowers everywhere and Juvia was just looking around in awe.

"Do you like it?" Natsu asked. He was still a bit unsure of his choice, what if Juvia didn't like it?  
Juvia nodded and looked at Natsu with stars in her eyes "It's lovely Natsu-san."

They looked for a place to sit and Natsu looked at Juvia, the sun accented her hair so nicely; she almost looked like an angel. Natsu wanted to slap himself for thinking things like that. He should calm down, he couldn't fall in love too hard, too quickly. It's not like Juvia would ever love him back anyway. And what if he only felt this way towards her because she reminded him so much of his deceased wife. He couldn't risk hurting her and himself because of that…

He picked up a menu to see what he would drink and to distract his mind a bit from Juvia, who was doing the same but let his heart beat just a little faster doing so. Then, after a while of uncomfortable silence which Natsu thought would never end, Erza came to get their orders. Natsu ordered a cup of coffee while Juvia ordered some green tea. As they waited for their drinks to come, Juvia finally broke the ice by asking "How are you liking Magnolia Natsu-san?"

Natsu smiled. They would have something to talk about and wouldn't have to sit in an uncomfortable silence anymore. Was his plan working?

Juvia had asked Natsu how he liked it in Magnolia thus far. Maybe he would say that he was happy to have met her and that he loved her. Juvia mentally slapped herself; she couldn't have such thoughts about Natsu! She looked at the pink haired male as he started talking

"I honestly like it a lot more than I originally thought I would. It was all so strange in the begin; new town, new home, new people, … Most of all, I had to move away from the house that I had always called home, the house where my wife lived with me…" Natsu explained and Juvia looked down. Natsu was definitely not over the death of his wife just yet, and here she was thinking she made a chance with him. Not when he still loved her so much…  
"But I met a lot of nice people here, like you. And I live a lot closer to some of my old friends now so I can see them more often. I was raised here as a little kid after all; it all felt weird but at the same time, moving back to Magnolia felt like coming home after so many years being away from home… I'm really happy I came to this place, it was like the start of a new life too; although it sometimes gets a bit hard to just let the past go and move on towards a new future…" Natsu said sadly and Juvia could clearly see that Natsu was thinking about his deceased wife again. She needed to cheer him up, but how?

Natsu shook his head and took a sip of his coffee "I'm sorry," he apologised.  
"How did you get to Magnolia? I don't remember knowing you when I was little," Natsu asked to change the subject. The thought of his dead wife had clearly saddened him but he still wanted to push past it; Juvia smiled at seeing how strong Natsu was.  
"Juvia actually only moved here because of Bora… But when things started to worsen, she had already achieved so much in the company that she couldn't leave again. Juvia tried to transfer to another city in the company, but they didn't have any room for Juvia; so Juvia stayed here in Magnolia, and she is happy she did so. Juvia really loves it here in Magnolia! But now Bora-san took the children and moved out of Magnolia… And…" Juvia looked down when suddenly Natsu interrupted her.

"We're really messing up the small talk stuff, aren't we?" he said as he tilted his head slightly to the right and looked kinda troubled. His comment though, made Juvia giggle and Natsu's expression instantly cleared up when he saw her smile again.

"I guess so," she smiled "How is Happy doing?" she asked to get out of the small talk they seemed to mess up anyway.  
"He's doing really well. He's with my best friend now, Gray often babysits him when I have to go out; he's a fun guy. Come to think of it, I should start planning his birthday party… Are you coming?" he asked the bluenette who looked up again at this question, she didn't realise she had been staring at Natsu as he told her about how Happy was doing. "Sure, if I don't have anything to do then. When is it?" Juvia asked. Being invited to Happy's birthday party was an excellent excuse to become closer to Natsu.

"The 30th of May. That's Happy's birthday," Natsu told the bluenette with a smile; but Juvia could see a hint of sadness looming within. Then she remembered that Happy's mother and Natsu's wife, had died on the day of Happy's birth. So the day Happy celebrated his birthday, would always stay the day Natsu's wife had died… "Natsu-san…" Juvia said but Natsu shook his head firmly.

"There I go again, ruining our conversation with my inability to let go of the past… I'm so sorry Juvia. I just wanted to have a nice drink with you and here I am ruining it…"  
Juvia giggled and made Natsu look up again "Natsu-san isn't ruining anything. And Juvia would be more than happy to come to Happy's birthday party." She told him with a smile.

They drank their drinks and talked the rest of the time without any more incidents and when they had both finished their drinks, Natsu waved Erza over for the bill and when Juvia started looking for her wallet, Natsu shook his head. "I'll pay," he said and Juvia shook her head "Natsu-san, you shouldn't pay for Juvia!" but Natsu told her "I insist on it. You've already done so much for me in the time that I lived here, let me do something for you now too."

Juvia blushed, this was the first time a guy had ever acted so nice to her; and Natsu paying for her kinda made it look like they were on a date… She kinda liked it though, but they weren't on a date… Would Natsu mind if it looked like one? _'Juvia is overthinking this again.'_ She told herself.

Natsu payed and on their way back to the car, they both kept silent. Juvia's mind kept going back to how Natsu had desperately wanted to pay _'Maybe Natsu-san wanted it to look like a date?'_ she wondered but shook her head. She couldn't start thinking that Natsu loved her now, not after she had seen how much he still loved his deceased wife.  
She looked up to him and saw he was sending a text to someone; did he perhaps have a new girlfriend already?

"We need to make a short stop if you don't mind. Gray just reminded me that I promised Happy to get some fish from a place he really likes it on my way home," he said as he pointed to his phone, indicating that it had been Gray he had been sending a text to, and not some girlfriend.

Juvia nodded "Sure, Juvia doesn't mind."  
Natsu ordered some salmon and Juvia couldn't help but giggle a bit as she noticed "The fish has the same hair colour as Natsu-san does."  
Natsu looked weird at her for a moment, before bursting out in laughter as they made their way to the car "Finally someone who understands that my hair is salmon coloured and not pink."

They talked on their way to the car and on their way in the car towards the office again where Natsu dropped Juvia off so she could head home herself. When Juvia got out she told the pinket "Juvia had a lot of fun today Natsu-san. We should definitely hang out again. She smiled once more before closing the car port and walking towards her own car.

Natsu smiled and felt his heart starting to race. Juvia wanted to hang out with him more, he had done this well. He would have to tell Gray all about it!  
Natsu started the car again and swiftly drove away from Magnolia Inc. As he arrived back home and opened the door, he was greeted by Happy hugging his legs tightly and Gray standing in the door leading to the hallway. Natsu picked Happy up and handed the bag with the fish to Gray so he could properly hug his son back. "Did you miss me?" Natsu asked the blue haired boy that nodded and hugged Natsu tighter. Natsu made some fake suffocating noises and said "Ah, I can't breathe Happy. You're too strong for me!". Happy released Natsu from his hug and Natsu put his son down so he could get off his jacket and shoes.

Gray yelled from the kitchen "How did your date with Juvia go!?"  
Natsu shook his head as he walked into the kitchen as well, taking a pan and the fish he had just bought "It wasn't a date silly. But everything went well, she wants to hang out with me more." Natsu told Gray with a broad smile; Happy had been observing from a little distance and smiled when he saw his dad so happy. He knew how much Natsu loved Juvia and how he had fallen in love hard and quick once he finally realised what these feelings for the bluenette were. But Happy also knew that his father was hesitant about those feelings and doubted himself because he was afraid that maybe he only felt love towards his co-worker because she looked so much like his mom, and that Natsu still had a long way to go before he could properly sort out those feelings and leave the past behind for good.

After dinner, Natsu and Happy said goodbye to Gray and then went back to their usual activity on a normal evening with nothing planned. Change into their pyjamas and laze on the couch until one of them, or both, fell asleep. This time, it was Natsu that fell asleep first since he hadn't slept well that night on the couch. He was woken up by Happy when the he went to sleep.  
Natsu followed the young boy upstairs to tuck him in and went to bed himself too. A good night of sleep was definitely welcome now…


	13. More than friends? You wish!

_**More than Friends? You wish!**_

Juvia walked into work a few days later and found Natsu copying some documents in the printer room. Well, how could she not notice him; his pink hair and bright red shirt did stand out a bit. "Hey Natsu-san," she greeted him and he looked over his shoulder "Good morning Juvia"

"What's with the bright colours today?" she asked him and he shrugged "I forgot to do the laundry so all my clothes for work are in the laundry now," Natsu explained and Juvia had to giggle; somehow the idea of Natsu doing the laundry amused her. Then she noticed he also wasn't wearing his muffler, which he always seemed to wear "Where is you scarf Natsu-san?" she asked him and he grinned "Being washed too, even though I'd like to wear it non-stop; it needs a wash as well so now and then."

"That scarf really seems to be important to you," Juvia noticed and Natsu nodded "I got it from a very special someone…"  
Juvia's mind immediately went to Natsu's wife, who else could be so important to him…

That was when Natsu's document was done printing and he took his papers and walked to his office again. Juvia smiled after him, he was so caring and still in love with his wife; it was kinda adorable…

However, that same evening, she got a message from Natsu. The way the text was written seemed like Natsu was panicking  
 _'Juvia! You gotta help me!'_ the text read and soon after a picture followed. It was a picture of Natsu holding the scarf in one hand and as she looked closer, the scarf looked kinda pink-ish.

' _One of my red shirts got into my white laundry and now everything is pink. I don't really care about the rest, but my beautiful scarf is ruined! Can I reverse this!? T_T T_T'_

Juvia thought for a while. What would she do if she experienced the same?  
' _Just get the red shirt out of the washing machine and wash the whole load again with some non-chlorine bleach. That should get the pink out normally.'_ She replied and quickly got a text back ' _Thx! Let's pray this works!'_

Juvia smiled at her phone. For living as a single dad for five years, almost six now; Natsu could still use some help. And she was more than happy to give him all the help he needed. Sometimes she couldn't help but think back at what his brother had said during the Christmas dinner. Did Natsu really need a wife in his life that much. She didn't see why.

Natsu could handle the things perfectly on his own, and when he needed some help he just asked the people around him. He was a nice and independent man and she was honestly surprised the girls at work didn't flirt with him all the time.

But it was better so, Juvia didn't think she could handle having all the girls at work flirt with him anyway.

Natsu smiled as he pressed start on the washing machine. It had been the right choice to go to her for help. But why was he feeling so stupidly happy right now?  
Happy ran back into the bathroom and asked "Did you find out what to do?"  
Natsu nodded and ruffled Happy's hair as he got up. "Now we can only pray that it'll work."

Two days later at work, Natsu was humming a song while getting coffee during lunch break and Juvia noticed he was wearing his scarf again. "So, did my tip work?" she asked him and he turned around smiling with a steaming cup of coffee. "Yes, I am so happy. Thank you so much. I don't know what I would do if I ruined this scarf…"

"Is it really that important to you then?" Juvia asked him and Natsu nodded "My mom made it for me when I went out to study in Clover. She died while I was still studying… That's maybe also one of the reasons I didn't return to Magnolia after I finished my studies. I've never really known my dad since he left when I was five; so when my mother died, I kinda didn't want to return here. And I had a girlfriend in Clover anyway…" Natsu explained.

Juvia mouthed an 'oh' and thought _'So he didn't get his scarf from his girlfriend, but from his dead mother…'_

She followed him back to his office where they talked the rest of the break until they both had to start working again.  
Just outside Natsu's office, Makarov and Macao were talking  
"Haven't you noticed that Natsu and Juvia are talking a lot the last few weeks?" Macao asked the older man and boss of the company. "Yeah," Makarov replied "They're gonna hook up soon."  
"Hook up? Those two? Where'd you get that idea!?" Macao asked .No way those two would hook up. They didn't have the guts for that. "You're not old enough to understand Macao, just wait and see…"

After work, Natsu and Juvia walked to the car together and Natsu asked "So, you were coming to Happy's birthday party, right?"  
Juvia nodded and asked "Is there anything he would particularly want to get for his birthday?"  
"I don't actually know. I still have to find something to give him myself. But I'm sure he'll be happy if you come over," Natsu told the bluenette as he opened the car door and said goodbye. Juvia watched him take off and she smiled. Buying presents and going to Happy's birthday party. It felt so nice to be invited… Or was it just because she would be able to spend the whole day with Natsu again then? She didn't know, and she didn't care at the moment.

She had already accepted the fact that she had fallen in love with the pink haired male a week or so ago, now she just had to wait for Natsu to get over his wife. If that would ever happen. But she could wait, being together with Natsu like this was enough for her for now. And she wouldn't push Natsu to get over his wife because she knew that if she would do that, her chances of actually being loved by the pinket would slim down…

So she would have to be patient and just wait until the day would come that Natsu would eventually get over his wife and fall in love with her. That was all she hoped for at this moment. She had had so many down periods in the few last months with her ex-husband, but she felt like Natsu could make everything alright again.

As Natsu drove away from work, he thought back about Juvia. They had talked all midday and now after work too; did it mean something? Would Juvia perhaps think of him as more than a friend too. Sometimes he just wanted to lean in and kiss her; but he knew that would ruin everything they had built up until now. He had to be patient and wait for the right moment and the right place. And he had to sort out his feelings first too. He couldn't just kiss her if he only felt something for her because she looked so much like his dead wife.

Before he knew, he had arrived at Happy's school already and he got out of the car. He had time enough to sort out his feelings later. Right now, he would have to take care of his son and make him happy.

The blue haired kid ran up to him and he scooped his son up in his arm to carry him to the car.  
"Juvia is coming to your birthday party too. Are you okay with that?" Natsu asked and Happy nodded excitedly "Of course Juvi-nee can come. We both like her a lot, right?" Happy asked with childish innocence. "Yeah, we both like her a lot…" Natsu answered him.

Natsu knew he couldn't just make rash decisions according Juvia because she looked just like his wife. But he at least knew that Happy wouldn't mind having Juvia around more.

' _We both like her a lot, right?'  
'Yeah, we both like her a lot…'_


	14. Chapter 14

_**The Ups and Downs of Being a Single Dad  
Update 25-05-2017  
It's not only because you look like my dead wife**_

A few weeks passed and Natsu started making preparations for Happy's birthday party that was in a week. His son would turn six next Tuesday and he wanted it to be perfect. He would get over the death of his wife, even for just a day, and just give his son the best birthday he could ever imagine. He had invited all of Happy's friends over to their house and Juvia was coming too. And on Happy's birthday itself, he would make sure he wouldn't have any time to be down about the loss of his wife six years ago. It was time to move on past his wife and focus more on his son.

He would go eat an ice cream with Gray and Happy after school and then he would cook for the three of them and they would finish it all with cake. He had to make sure that he didn't forget to tell Juvia that the party was in the weekend instead of on Happy's birthday itself.

As he arrived at work that day, he was greeted by his boss, Makarov, and was told to attend a meeting. He hadn't known about the meeting but it seemed to be pretty important so he obeyed Makarov and followed him to the meeting, where he excused himself for being a bit late and not knowing about the meeting.

Two and a half hours later, he could finally leave the boring meeting about how they could make their products even better. He got himself the coffee he needed and installed himself in his office…

…Only to be kept off his work longer by co-workers that needed him for various stuff. He ended up not being able to do anything in the morning, so he had to eat while working all lunch break.  
A bit after lunch break, Juvia finally arrived at the company and started doing her share of the work again so Natsu could finally get a little rest.

When Natsu had finally caught up again with his work, he allowed himself to take a break and got himself another coffee.  
While he was checking his phone in the breakroom with a quick snack and his coffee, Juvia sat in front of him. "Juvia is so sorry she left Natsu-san with all the work this morning. Juvia had some car trouble this morning and couldn't get here on time… Can Juvia make it up to Natsu-san by inviting him and Happy to dinner tomorrow evening?" she asked.

"I would love to. Just text me the details later; I sadly have to go back to work again…" Natsu said tiredly as he ate the last of his snack and got himself another coffee. As he got up and walked to his office with his coffee, Juvia wondered if Natsu was perhaps angry because she had left him the whole morning to do all his work, and hers on top of that too. He had the right to be angry…

She cursed herself for not letting him know she would be later, what if he was angry now? What if she was slowly ruining her chances of getting together with him?  
She still texted him the details that evening though, even if just to know if he would be coming over the next day.

' _pling_ ' Natsu's phone sounded as he got a new text message after dinner. He unlocked his phone and saw it was from Juvia. He got really happy for a moment and then opened it.  
 _'Hey Natsu, Is it okay for you to come over tomorrow around 7:30PM? I'll text you the adress'  
_ and right after that, Natsu indeed got another text containing Juvia's address. Now he thought of it, he had never actually been to Juvia's house before, she had always come here…

'Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow at work then!' Natsu texted back and when Juvia read this text, she was instantly relieved. So Natsu wasn't angry at her like she thought, or did he just not let it show?

He called upstairs to Happy "Hey Happy!". The cheery high voice called back almost immediately "Yeah!". "We'll have dinner at Juvia's house tomorrow, is that okay?" Natsu asked.  
Happy came down from his room and yelled "Yeah sure!" as he ran down the stairs and nestled himself in Natsu's lap, giving his dad a big hug. "I love you dad," the young boy whispered and Natsu returned the hug "I love you too Happy."

The next day after work, Natsu discovered once more just how difficult it was to get Happy to take a bath when he didn't want to take one. Natsu ended up being pulled in the bath himself too so he decided to take one with Happy and found out it was actually easier that way.

Now he was brushing his son's hair after having dried it but Happy just didn't want to keep still. "Happy, I swear to God. Just keep still for a moment. You have to look at least a bit nice when we go to Juvia's house for dinner," Natsu told the blue haired kid who just stuck out his tongue and ran downstairs. Natsu sighed, wasn't Happy a bit young for puberty…

Later that evening, Natsu had finally managed to get Happy ready to go out to Juvia for dinner. They arrived at Juvia's house 10 minutes late and Natsu excused himself "I'm sorry we're late Juvia. Happy was being a bit… active…"

"That's okay Natsu-san, Juvia is happy you could make it. Dinner's just about ready," Juvia told the pinket who handed her a bottle of wine with a red bow around it "I got you this. Thanks for having us over," Natsu said. Juvia shook her head as she led them to the neatly covered table "You shouldn't have done this Natsu-san. Juvia never brought you anything when she came over either…"

"It's okay Juvia. I gladly do this for you. I hope you at least like it."  
"How about we taste it together? Does Natsu-san drink?" she asked the pink haired male who was helping Happy get closer to the table. "Ah, sure. I guess it won't hurt to drink a glass or two," Natsu gave in as Juvia handed him a glass of wine and disappeared back into the kitchen to continue making dinner.

A bit later, she returned with the food this time and a glass of wine for herself too. They ate in silence and shared a couple more glasses of wine before they moved over to the couch.  
They talked about various stuff when suddenly Natsu felt Happy's body slump against him and when he looked down, he saw his son was sleeping against him. He put an arm around the small boy and smiled.

Juvia smiled too "Happy must've been tired," she said and Natsu nodded "That doesn't surprise me, with how hyper he was earlier today…"  
They smiled at each other and looked in each other's eyes, making an awkward silence before looking away.

Natsu felt a little bit lightheaded and feared he might have had a little bit too much wine to drink when Juvia suddenly asked "Is there something you regret in your life?"

Natsu looked down and nodded after a while. He ruffled Happy's hair once more and looked down sadly "I feel bad for saying this. But I kinda regretted choosing Happy over my wife when he was just born. I actually thought about committing suicide a lot when she had just died. When I think back at it now; it would've been a shame. Cause I like how everything turned out in the end…" Natsu explained to Juvia. She looked shocked but knowing. Could she possibly understand him, if even a bit?

"It really would have been a shame Natsu-san. Cause if you would've done that, Juvia would have never gotten the chance to meet Natsu-san and get to know him like this…" she said silently and Natsu could only barely hear it. But that little bit was enough to make him happy again and he looked at her with a small smile on his face, a look that said he was in love with her. And he couldn't care less about what his look told her right now. Cause this was the woman he had fallen in love with.

Natsu's gaze had something in it she had never seen in his eyes before. And however she had never seen it in his eyes before, she recognised it from somewhere. And Natsu's eyes didn't look as hollow as they usually looked, they seemed to have regained a certain spark.  
Juvia looked at him and she could practically feel the love overflowing. She wouldn't be surprised if Natsu would notice her true feelings towards him now; and she didn't mind one bit.

Natsu gazed into her eyes that had a soft, tender expression to them and he thought to himself as the thought of his deceased wife popped up in his mind _'I hope you'll be able to forgive me, but I think I'm ready to move on. I don't know if it'll be better for Happy. Or for me… But I at least want to try…'_

And then, as if it was a miracle, Natsu could almost hear his wife tell him _"That's okay Natsu. You should move on. Sadness and grief over me will get you nowhere…"  
_ Natsu smiled at what he had just heard; or thought he had heard. And with newfound courage, and without really knowing what he was doing, he leaned in and pressed his lips on Juvia's.

Juvia was caught in surprise by the kiss. Did Natsu really kiss her? Did he love her? She couldn't believe it! Maybe all that time spent praying and hoping that Natsu would one day move on and look at her as more than just a friend had helped her after all…

Natsu didn't even realize what he was doing. His body had just moved on its own; the only thing he knew was that he liked what was happening right now. Even if the action hadn't properly been progressed in his head yet…

Then, suddenly, the kiss was properly progressed in Natsu's head and he realised only now what he was doing to Juvia, without her consent!

He was quick to break up and apologise to her "I'm so sorry Juvia! It happened on its own, you probably won't believe me if I say that, but. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to!" Natsu said as he looked down, trying not to make eye contact with Juvia.  
But when he looked up again to check on Juvia's expression, he saw her gaze was gentle and… loving?

She shook her head and chuckled "Silly Natsu-san," was the only thing she said as she rested her right hand ever so softly on Natsu's cheek and looked into his eyes with a tender expression.  
Natsu was taken back by this. Wasn't Juvia going to be angry at him because he had kissed her without her permission? He wanted to reach up to his cheek and keep her hand there at all cost, but decided not to in case she might be angry after all.

But then she suddenly leaned in to kiss him again. Wait, she kissed him? So, Juvia loved him?  
"I love you…" It was a breathy whisper but Natsu heard it loud and clear. He was kinda shocked, but still managed to get out "I-I love you too! And not only because you look like my dead wife!"

Juvia giggled and just told him "You really are stupid Natsu-san. Juvia would never think you'd only love her because she looks like Natsu-san's dead wife. Juvia is just happy that she finally doesn't have to hide her feelings anymore…"

Natsu blushed upon hearing this. "I feel the same Juvia, but… what does this make us? Is this like a relationship? Do you wanna go out with me?

Juvia looked honestly taken back by this question. Didn't a kiss immediately mean that they were a couple now? Did this awkward moment really have to occur?  
"Juvia would be more than happy to have the pleasure to go out with you Natsu-san," she answered Natsu's question truthfully and saw how his face lit up as she told him that she wanted to be with him too.

Suddenly, Natsu lunged forward and hugged Juvia tightly. "Can I ask you one more thing?" he asked.  
Juvia nodded and hummed as she returned the hug "Yeah, sure."  
"Can we keep this whole thing a secret for Happy for a while?"

Juvia looked up to Natsu in a questioning way "Why'd you want to do that?" Juvia asked him. "This will be a pretty big change for the two of us, so I kinda wanna ease him into this all. He has never experienced a mother figure in his life…"

Juvia nodded "That's okay Natsu. I understand," she told him and looked over Happy who was still sleeping on the couch next to where Natsu was sitting. He had heard nothing of what had happened just now and Natsu wanted to keep it that way for a little bit longer to ease Happy into the idea of a mother; since the little boy had never experienced the love of a mother…

She would try to fill in the role of Happy's mother as good as possible and would make the two of them happy again…


	15. Happy's birthday party

_**Happy's Birthday Party  
The Ups and Downs of Being a Single Dad  
Update: 03-06-2017**_

After a week of preparations, it was finally time for Happy's birthday party. Natsu's house was filled with children running around and playing. The table was filled with present from Happy's friends and Natsu was getting the cake ready so Happy could blow out the six candles on top of it.

On Happy's birthday itself, they had gone out with Gray for ice cream, after which both Gray and Natsu had given Happy his presents. Now, Gray was also on the party to help watch the bunch of hyperactive kids running around Natsu's house. Then suddenly, the doorbell sounded and Gray yelled back into the kitchen, where Natsu was busy getting the cake ready, "I thought all the kids were here?"

"They are, that should be Juvia!" Natsu yelled back and Gray went to get the door. When he opened the door, he saw a woman that looked exactly like Natsu's dead wife. He looked stunned and the woman asked him "Is something the matter?"

"No. But, you look exactly like…"  
"Natsu-san's wife? Juvia knows…" the woman said and Gray shook his head. "Sorry. So you are Juvia huh? I've heard a lot about you," Gray told Juvia in a teasing manner which made the bluenette blush. "Does Natsu-san talk about Juvia that much?" she asked but Gray shook his head "No, not that much, but I'm his best friend. He usually comes to me for advice."

"Oh," Juvia said as she walked into the kitchen where she saw Natsu finishing a cake with a fish patterned apron. "Yo Natsu-san," she said and Natsu looked up. "Juvia," he said happily; instantly cheered up by her presence. "I'm so happy you could come," he told her and gave her a hug. Gray cleared his throat and Natsu immediately broke up the hug "Oh yeah. Gotta be careful with Happy around. You've met Gray already I suppose?" Natsu asked

Gray nodded and said "Yeah, we met at the door."  
"Wait, Gray? That's the name of my son too," Juvia said happily and Gray smiled too. Juvia was a fine lady, just like Natsu had always said. She was kind, cheery and looked exactly like Natsu's deceased wife. Although he knew that wasn't why Natsu had chosen her; he couldn't help but think that it might've been a factor. But she was perfect for Natsu and as long as Natsu was happy, he couldn't be against it.

Then, Natsu picked up the cake and said "Well, you're right in time for the cake."  
He walked out of the kitchen with the cake and yelled "Happy, come blow out your candles!"  
Not even two seconds later, Natsu was surrounded by small children and Happy who got ready to blow out his candles. Juvia and Gray stood around the table too so they could watch how Happy blew out his candles. When Happy spotted the blue hair of Juvia, he waved at her before blowing out the candles.

When the cake was eaten, the kids went back to playing while the adults sat in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. Natsu looked up as Happy ran past and smiled "They grow up so fast… I still remember the day of his birth so well. The good parts of it too… And how hard it was to combine my job with raising a little kid…"

"That's where I join in," Gray said with a smirk. "When Natsu was out for work, I had to babysit Happy all the time. And Natsu still wonders why I'm so close to his son," Gray explained and Juvia giggled. "Tch, and that kid was loud. You have no idea."

"Natsu replied. Of course he was loud. I've read somewhere that babies instantly calm down upon hearing their mother's voice because she carried them during the pregnancy. Happy didn't have a mother's voice to calm him down so he was crying all the time. I was exhausted by my job trying to get a promotion and then when I got home, I had a kid crying all day and night robbing me of my night's sleep. I got really depressed and I've told you the rest…" Natsu said and Juvia nodded in understanding. Even though she didn't know how Natsu had felt at that moment, she too had been alone with two kids for a while.

"Eventually, when Happy got older, it got easier and Happy started to understand that I needed some rest too sometimes. He would just come cuddle with me when I was resting on the couch or bring me my favourite snack. And that was when I realised I should get up and start getting my life together. As you see now, it worked pretty well," Natsu told them with a smile.

Juvia looked down, she never knew Natsu had had it this hard. She knew it was tough raising kids by yourself, but she had never realised that Natsu had to do all that while going through a depression because his wife had died at birth.

Just then, Happy ran into the kitchen, followed by two of his friends "Can I open the presents now?" the little blue haired boy asked his father who smiled and got up "Of course you can. Let's go."

Juvia watched with a smile as father and son took off to open the presents and turned back to her coffee as they exited the kitchen again. "So," Gray started "How did you two hook up?"

Juvia blushed upon being asked this so bluntly. She thought back at last week when they had hooked up because she had invited Natsu over for dinner because she thought he would be angry at her for being late at work and leaving him to do all the work.  
"It just… happened…" she told the ravenet. Gray shook his head and said "I'm Natsu's best friend. If you don't tell me, he will eventually tell me himself. So just spill the beans," he teased her.

"Seems like Natsu-san has one heck of a best friend," Juvia teased him back.

"Seems like you two could become friends," Natsu commented as he walked back into the kitchen. The two of them laughed and Natsu said "The party's almost over now. Can you guys help me with cleaning up afterwards?"  
"Sure," they both answered and Natsu smiled.

And indeed, half an hour later, the last kid was picked up by their parents and while Natsu handled the small talk, Gray and Juvia started cleaning already. Natsu and Happy joined them in cleaning up too, and when everything was clean again; they sat down again for another cup of coffee while Happy was upstairs playing with some of his new toys.

"Natsu-san, you should stay the night at Juvia's place sometimes too now, you know?" Juvia mentioned and Natsu smiled "With pleasure, but I need to see what I can do about Happy, since we are keeping this a secret for him. He does have a sleepover next Thursday so maybe I can come over then?" Natsu asked.

"Sure," Juvia said with a tender smile. Then, she looked at Gray "Does Gray-san has someone who is special to him too?", she asked the ravenet who shook his head "I had someone I loved, but that someone is now in a relationship…" he told the bluenette with a tender smile towards Natsu. Natsu couldn't help but remember that kiss they shared again.

"That's too bad," Juvia said "Juvia is sure that she would have accepted your feelings if you had told her."

Gray shook his head again "No, I don't think so. He had his mind set on someone else already when I showed him my feelings…" Gray explained and Juvia looked confused for just a moment "He?"  
"Oh, yeah. I should've said something. I swing towards the other side," Gray said in a teasing manner and Natsu just chuckled. He knew that Gray was talking about him just now and he couldn't help but feel a bit bad for what he had done. He had just rejected his best friend that day… He was at least happy that the kiss had not ruined their friendship, but perhaps even made it stronger…

Then, Happy ran into the kitchen again and climbed on Natsu's lap so he could hug his father "I had a really fun day today. Thank you dad!" the small boy exclaimed and Natsu hugged his son back with a big smile on his lips.

"It's nothing Happy. I'd do anything for you. And, Happy birthday again my little prince…"


	16. Sleepovers

_**Sleepovers  
08-06-2017**_

Thursday had arrived and after work, Natsu made sure Happy had everything for his sleepover at his friend's house. He had put a pair of clothes and underwear and his toothbrush in a bag too cause he would stay over at Juvia's house tonight for the first time as well. He was excited but also a bit nervous; what if he fucked up? He would only have one chance for a first impression. What if Juvia wanted sex already? He didn't think about condoms, should he go get some before going over to her house?

"Daddy? What are you thinking about?" he suddenly heard Happy's voice and noticed the small boy standing in front of him. "Ah, nothing really. Are you ready to go?" Natsu asked. Happy handed his father the bag he had and Natsu checked if his son really did have everything.  
"You seem to have everything; let's go then, will we?"  
"Aye!" Happy replied cheery as he took his bag and ran towards the front door, waiting for his dad who was still taking his jacket.

They walked to the car together and quickly departed towards the house of Happy's friend where Natsu's blue haired son would stay the night. "So, I'll just come pick you up at school tomorrow, right?" Natsu asked and looked into the mirror to see what Happy's reaction was. The young boy hummed and nodded and Natsu smiled as he got his full attention back on the road.

As they arrived at the house of Happy's friend, Natsu helped his son out of the car and took his bag. He talked a bit with the other boy's mom and arranged when Natsu could pick up Happy's stuff tomorrow. He said goodbye to the boy's mother and kissed Happy on his forehead, after which he got into the car again and departed to the next address. The address for his own sleepover.

When he parked his car at Juvia's house and walked to the front door, he couldn't help but get really nervous about it all. Would it be okay? Would Juvia expect more from him? What would be happening inside this house tonight?

All questions he couldn't answer yet and didn't have the time for to answer cause Juvia opened the door and greeted Natsu with a smile. "Natsu-san, come in," she said cheerily as she stepped aside to let Natsu come inside. Natsu stepped inside her living room and saw it was really tidy. How long ago had it been since his living room had looked as tidy as this? He couldn't remember.

He suddenly looked up out of his thoughts about Juvia's tidy living room when she hugged him. He was unsure what to do at first but just decided to do what his instincts told him and wrap his arms around her too. "Juvia has been waiting for this Natsu-san. Now we can finally do what we want without needing to think of someone else…" Juvia said and Natsu was a bit taken back by this. Should he have brought condoms after all?

"Ah," Juvia suddenly looked up "that probably came out wrong. Juvia doesn't want sex with Natsu-san already! Ah, well, she wouldn't particularly mind but… but…"

Natsu silenced her stammering with a deep kiss. "You don't need to be so insecure Juvia. Don't worry, I didn't take it that way. I'm not prepared either way," Natsu explained her with a wink, leaving Juvia stunned.

"What does Natsu-san mean with prepared?" she asked him shamelessly. This time it was Natsu's turn to blush at her asking this so casually. "Umm, well, I didn't think about condoms. And I wouldn't want to get you pregnant…" Natsu shyly admitted.

They both sat down on the couch and however there was more than enough space, Juvia scooted over closer to him and put her head on his shoulder. Natsu couldn't help but smile at the cute girl he had fallen in love with and cuddled back.

"Hey Natsu-san?" she suddenly asked  
"What is it Juvia?"  
"Natsu-san said that he wouldn't want to get Juvia pregnant. Does Natsu-san want any more kids someday?" Juvia asked him.

Natsu didn't immediately know what to respond on her question. He had never really thought about that. Back when he was with his old wife, he had always said that he wanted at least two kids. However, his wife had died at the birth of his first child and he had never really thought he wanted anymore kids. He still didn't really think about wanting more kids right now. He had always been happy with just Happy and himself.  
But now he got Juvia too, would everything suddenly change?

"I never really thought about kids after my wife died, but I'd rather not have any more kids anywhere soon…" Natsu admitted "I'm scared I'll do the same to you as I did to my previous wife. And I don't want to kill another person I love…"

Juvia looked at the pinket sadly. If this relationship would go well, she would definitely want a kid or two with this man. He was amazing with children and he was just so nice. But she would also respect his choice not to have children if he didn't want children because of what had happened to his previous wife…

As they cuddled on, Natsu started to get tired. Happy had kept him up late the night before and was up way too early this morning so he had slept barely 5 hours. He had been struggling to keep awake at work and had a quick nap during his lunch break. But that had not been enough to keep him awake now; cause while they were watching a movie, Natsu kept nodding off until he eventually gave in and just fell asleep cuddled up with Juvia who was still watching the movie.

When the movie was done, Juvia yawned and looked up at Natsu to propose to go to bed. But she found him with his head resting on the back of the couch sleeping while cuddling her. She managed to get out of his grip and sat down in his lap. When she kissed his lips, he woke up and he was looking at her groggily "Huh, what? Did I fall asleep?" he asked and Juvia nodded. He apologised and told her about Happy but she just smiled "I don't mind Natsu. I had fun just being with you, even if we didn't do much. Let's go to bed, okay?"

"Sure," Natsu said as he waited for Juvia to get up.  
Juvia showed him the bathroom where he stripped of his clothes, brushed his teeth and did his business. He waited for Juvia and they went to bed together.

She was still setting her alarm when Natsu had already started snoring lightly and as she too laid back on the mattress, she suddenly felt Natsu's arms sneak around her and his warm body scooting closer to her as he spooned her.

Juvia hadn't felt as safe and comfortable sleeping as she did now that Natsu was here spooning her in a long time and she already knew that she never wanted Natsu to go away again cause that she already was addicted to this…

When Juvia's alarm sounded through the room the next morning, she reached over to snooze it and sleep a little longer. However, as she turned around to snuggle back into the blankets, she was greeted by a male body in her bed. She jumped for a bit and then realised that it was just her new boyfriend sleeping in her bed; she would definitely have to get used to sleeping with a man again.

She found herself unable to sleep any longer so she looked at Natsu's sleeping face that was only centimetres away from her. He looked so childish like this, with his eyes closed and his mouth open, a little bit of drool coming out of it.  
Then, before her alarm could sound again, she reached over to her phone and pressed out the alarm. She propped up on her elbows and kissed Natsu.

Natsu was woken up by a foreign sensation. He opened his eyes and felt lips on his. He saw the face of a woman and blue hair everywhere. "…?", the name of his dead wife left his lips but he shook his head. It couldn't be her, she was dead. Maybe this was just another nice dream. The woman shook her head however and said "No you silly. It's Juvia."

That was right, he had stayed the night with Juvia for the first time since they had formed a couple and she had woken him up with a kiss. Natsu just captured her in his arms again and spooned her as he was starting to fell asleep again already…

"I'm sorry sir. My son had a sleepover and I overslept. I won't let it happen again," Natsu apologised. Juvia and him both had fallen back asleep that morning. And since Juvia had pressed off the alarm, nothing had woken them up again until an hour late for work when Makarov had called Juvia. "It's okay. Just go to work now," the old man said and Natsu excused himself from his office. As soon as Natsu had left Makarov's office, Macao came in and sat down "So…" he started.  
"Those two definitely slept together," Makarov said and the two old man started their discussion about the relationship of those two again.

Later that afternoon, Gray was called by his best friend. "Hey, can you pick up Happy from school today. I have to work late. There's some fish in the fridge if you don't mind cooking," Natsu explained.  
"Sure, I don't mind. I've done this more than often in the past anyway," Gray answered and Natsu smiled as he pressed the red button on his phone and went back to work.

That evening, Natsu reached his house around eight o' clock. He unlocked the door and went inside. As he was putting his shoes and jacket away, he was greeted by Gray "Yo," the ravenet said. "How's Happy been?" Natsu asked as he dropped his bag and made his way inside "A little angel, like always. He was a little disappointed when he noticed it wasn't you picking him up at school today though. He missed you," Gray said and Natsu smiled meekly. He was just tired. He wanted to see his son and then go to sleep as soon as possible.

But when he went into the living room, he wasn't greeted by Happy like normally; which was weird if Happy really had missed him as much as Gray had just said. "Where is Happy?" Natsu asked his friend and Gray responded "He said he was tired and went to bed early."

Natsu mouthed a silent 'oh' and thanked Gray for looking after his son for the evening. As Gray left the house, Natsu threw off his shirt and pants in the bathroom and headed to his room for some sleep. But when he lifted the covers of the bed, he saw the small form of Happy curled up on the mattress. "So you did come and sleep here huh," Natsu whispered and climbed into the bed next to Happy.

Then suddenly, when Natsu had just closed his eyes, he felt rustling in the bed and noticed Happy scooting closer to him. Just before Natsu drifted off to sleep he still heard Happy's tired voice say "Welcome back dad. I missed you."

Natsu wrapped his arms around his son as an answer and realised that moment that however much he had liked sleeping with Juvia in an embrace like this; nothing could beat having his son sleeping in his arms like this. His little piece of heaven, the last thing he still had left from his wife. And he would protect is at all cost, even if that meant losing Juvia again. And he hoped dearly that he would never have to choose between the two of them…


	17. Father's Day

_**Father's day  
Update: 11-06-2017**_

Juvia had called Natsu to ask if he wanted to go out with her and maybe Happy that Sunday; but Natsu had shook his head and said he really wanted to go out with her, but that he had other plans already.

When she got home that same evening and dropped her bag on the counter, she had looked at the calendar and noticed that it was Father's day that Sunday. Of course Natsu had other plans already, he obviously wanted to spend time with his son on father's day…

And so, Sunday arrived and Natsu had honestly looked forward to this day. He always loved spending time with Happy on father's day since it was kinda special for Happy. The young boy only had a father after all.

But little did Natsu know that this year, Happy had planned something special for father's day…

Happy had asked Gray if he could help him with his plan when he had picked Happy up from school Thursday. Gray had, of course, easily accepted the request from the young boy and now he was waiting in front of their house. Happy opened the door and Gray quietly stepped inside. They were lucky that Natsu had always been a heavy sleeper and would probably sleep through everything they were going to do.

Happy's plan had been to make breakfast for his father together with Gray and surprise the pinket with breakfast and the thing he had crafted at school. So Gray had gone to the bakery a little bit down the street to get croissants for Natsu and was now helping Happy with making eggs and toast. Natsu's 'world's best dad' mug was filled with coffee and Happy's present was placed on top of the tray as well.

Gray then helped they young boy with carrying it all upstairs and looked as Happy woke up Natsu by jumping on top of the pinket and yelling "Happy Father's day dad!".

Natsu was woken up suddenly, but as he saw Happy sitting on top of him and Gray standing by the door with a tray with breakfast on it, he couldn't help but smile and hug his son "Thank you Happy. I love you."

They ate together on the bed and when Natsu had gotten ready, he said "How about we go to the playground today, it's a nice day?" Happy's eyes lit up and you could practically see the enthusiasm in them as the young kid vigorously nodded.  
"You wanna come with us?" Natsu asked his best friend. Gray shrugged and said "Sure, why not?" which seemed to make Happy even happier.

As they were walking down the street towards the playground, Happy was in between them. Holding one of Natsu's hands and one of Gray's  
"He really seems to have taken a liking to you," Natsu mentioned and Gray just shrugged it off "I guess, I'm not even that good with kids…"  
"Oh don't be bashful now, I've seen you with Happy. You are amazing with kids. It really was the right decision to trust you with babysitting Happy all the time…" Natsu told him which made Gray smile and blush a little at being complimented like this.

That was when they reached the playground and Happy ran off to play while Gray and Natsu sat down on a bench by the side of the playground where they could watch Happy.

"So…" Gray started which made Natsu look up. "How did your night with Juvia go? Did you do the do?" Gray asked with a wink.  
Natsu just glared at his friend and shook his head "I didn't think about condoms. And I don't want to get her pregnant at all. I'm not ready to kill another person I love…" Natsu told him.

This time it was Gray who shook his head "Natsu, are you still blaming yourself for that. It was something that couldn't be helped. She had always been weaker than normal people, this just happened because she was in one of her weaker periods because of the pregnancy."

"But she would've never gotten pregnant in the first place if I hadn't been so damn enthusiast about having kids when I knew that her body was actually too weak for it. We would've been just fine without kids too," Natsu said. "And how long would she have lived then, you know that her time wasn't very long in the first place. Maybe she felt her end nearing and wanted to give you one more thing that you could hang on when it got hard. You still have a little part of her running around here Natsu…"

Natsu knew the ravenet was right; he should just be happy with what he had now. The past was in the past and he would never be able to change anything about that anymore. And like things were now, he didn't really want to change anything about it. He had a son, a new girlfriend. He had Gray to rely on. It was time to just move on like he had promised himself to do the evening when he had hooked up with Juvia.

"Well, enough talking about me," Natsu said "How are you doing?" he asked his friend who just shrugged "I don't know. Everything just goes pretty normal I guess. I don't have such an exciting life like you do," he teased the pinket. "Shut up," Natsu muttered.

Then, suddenly Happy ran up to them and dragged Natsu with him to play as he kept saying "Daddy, come on. Come play!"  
Natsu realised he didn't really have a choice and just let him be dragged into the playground by the little kid.

The afternoon passed quickly at the playground and as it began to get a bit late, the three of them returned homewards. Happy had fallen asleep while his father was carrying the young boy on his back and now Gray and Natsu were just walking next to each other in silence. "I'm sorry I didn't realise earlier how you felt about me… I must've hurt your feeling back then. And yet you're still so nice to me…" Natsu confessed to his best friend. After rejecting his best friend, he had felt bad for a while. Maybe he had broken the guy's heart and he didn't even apologise for it. He could only imagine how it would feel to be rejected by Juvia back then and had felt bad for days.  
Then, when he had kissed Juvia to confess his love for her; he couldn't help but think about how he had turned Gray down before and could only hope the same thing wouldn't happen to him…

"Natsu, do you honestly think I'd let our friendship be ruined by something as small as that? You really don't know me, do you? It's true that I love you and that it kinda hurt when you turned me down saying you had someone else on your mind already; but I would never let something as small as that ruin the friendship we have built over the years." Gray told the pinket who smiled at his best friend.

"Thank you Gray. For everything. Also for helping Happy today; I really enjoyed it."

Gray just smiled knowingly "You're welcome…"

 _ **So this will be the last chapter till July at least, since I'll be busy with my finals for the rest of the month. I'm actually having my first one Tuesday. Wish me luck!**_


	18. A lie

**_A lie  
08-07-2017_**

A month had passed since Natsu had first stayed the night at Juvia's place. Summer vacation had started last week and that meant that Happy would be home a lot when he couldn't be home. At least Happy went out to play with his friends a lot and had a few sleepovers as well so he wouldn't have to miss his father too much.

And with those sleepovers Happy had, Natsu stayed over at Juvia's place whenever he could as well.  
But today was a bit different. Natsu would be staying over at Juvia's place, but Happy didn't have a sleepover of his own. So Natsu had told his son a lie. He had told Happy he would be staying over at Juvia's place to get some work done, while in reality he just wanted to have her sleep in his embrace for another night and he couldn't wait until the next sleepover Happy had planned.

It had pained him to tell his son a lie and he still felt bad about it when he took his bag and gave Happy a kiss on his forehead. Happy had luckily seemed to take it well and believed the lie his father had told him as if Natsu had just told him something natural.

As he drove towards Juvia's home, he still felt bad a little for his son. He always missed his father when Natsu had to work late for work or go out for something; so Natsu had always tried to stay home as much as possible over the last five years. He really would have to think of something to ease Happy into the idea of having a mother so he could announce his relationship with Juvia and not be so secretive about it to Happy.

When Natsu had arrived at Juvia's place, he dropped his bag on the couch and sat down. Juvia got him something to drink and softly massaged his tense shoulders as she asked "Is something the matter Natsu? You seem so tense."  
"Ah, it's nothing important, I just feel a little bad about lying to Happy about coming here to do work… I've never told him a lie before…"

"Hey. It's gonna be all right Natsu," she told him as she pressed a kiss on his lips "Happy will be able to survive for one night without you. He has Gray with him so everything should be just fine." Another kiss was pressed on his lips and Natsu wrapped an arm around her neck, kissing her back and deepening the kiss in the process.  
Natsu softly pushed her down on the couch and kissed her more, dominating her mouth with his own and running his hands up and down her sides "Natsu~" she whisper-moaned and Natsu could feel himself getting excited. Just as he was about to break their kiss and suggest they could go upstairs to finish this, his phone rang. When he wanted to turn the mobile off, he saw it was Gray calling and picked up the ringing phone.

"Gray? Is something wrong with Happy?" Natsu asked worriedly while Juvia was straightening her clothes again on the couch.  
Gray hummed at the other side of the phone "He's got a fever. Nothing too serious, but I just thought I'd let you know," Gray told the pinket. "Damn!" Natsu yelled "Can you let me know if it gets any worse?" he asked the ravenet on the other side of the line. Gray hummed again and said "Sure, I'll let you alone now. Did I interrupt anything with Juvia?" Gray asked and Natsu told him "Shut up!" before putting the phone down.

"Is something wrong with Happy, Natsu?" the blue haired girl asked worriedly and Natsu nodded "Yeah, he has a bit of a fever right now. Gray said it was nothing serious though. But I can't help but get a bit worried about him…"

"Natsu-san… You can always go home if you want to. Juvia knows Natsu-san really wanted this, but if Natsu-san want to be with Happy right now, Juvia understands." She told him. But Natsu could see the hint of sadness in her eyes. They had both wanted this. To be together tonight and sleep together again. Natsu wouldn't let Happy come in between the two of them now.

He shook his head and kissed Juvia again "I wanna be with you more right now Juvia. So where were we Juvia," Natsu said seductively, making Juvia's face turn fully red.

In the end, they ended up in bed after nothing more than making out. But neither of them cared. They both hadn't thought about condoms again and they weren't ready for kids yet, neither of them. Now Natsu was texting Gray to ask how Happy was doing before he would go to sleep with Juvia in his arms like he had looked forward to for a while now. Gray sent a picture of Happy who was sleeping on the couch with a fish patterned blanket over him as he cuddled his stuffed animal close to his chest with the text 'He's getting better already. His fever has gone down now and he's sleeping. Don't worry and get back to your girlfriend ;P'

Natsu turned around to Juvia and showed her to picture of Happy Gray had just sent him. She blushed at how cute the young boy was and Natsu smiled as he plugged his phone in and turned back around to cuddle with Juvia to sleep.  
Right before he fell asleep, he told the bluenette "Let's tell Happy tomorrow Juvia, I can't stand to lie to him any longer."

Juvia turned to face Natsu and nodded "That's okay by me Natsu-san. Juvia hopes she can make a good mother to Happy."  
"I'm sure you will," Natsu said as he pressed his lips on hers again in a last kiss before falling asleep.

The next morning, Natsu stood in Juvia's shower and as the water streamed over him, he thought _'I'm going to tell Happy about Juvia today. Will he accept it? Will he accept Juvia? I know he liked Juvia too, but what if he doesn't like Juvia as a mother? What should I do then?'_

"Natsu-san~ Are you thinking about something?" Juvia, who had come into the bathroom at one moment suddenly asked. Natsu snapped out of it and shook his head "It's nothing Juvia. Don't worry," he told her as he turned off the shower and grabbed his towel to rub his hair and body.

As he stepped out of the shower, Juvia wrapped Natsu's scarf around his neck and pulled him down so she could kiss him. Natsu blushed at her boldness and was left stammering as she winked and walked out of the bathroom to continue breakfast.

They ate breakfast together in silence and cuddled some more on the couch before Natsu took his stuff and started making his way to the door. "Natsu-san, can Juvia come with you now you're going to tell Happy?" Juvia suddenly asked and Natsu looked at her for a few moments before saying "Sure, I'd love that," and kissing her.

They got in Natsu's car together and drove off to Natsu's home together…

When Natsu unlocked the door and opened it, he was almost immediately attack by Happy's hug. The pinket pressed his forehead against Happy's to feel if he still had a fever and felt that the young boy felt a little warmer than normally, but nothing too serious. He then set Happy down, who greeted Juvia and then followed his father into the living room. Natsu thanked Gray for babysitting and then took Happy with him to the couch. "I gotta tell you something Happy," Natsu started talking and Happy looked up curiously. "I actually wasn't at Juvia's place yesterday and tonight because I had a lot of work to finish…" Natsu started and Happy looked at his father in shock. "so you lied to me?" the young boy asked and Natsu nodded slowly "I know, it's bad to lie. But I didn't want to shock you by telling you earlier. But after lying to you, I just needed to tell you today. I won't lie to you anymore Happy. The truth is… that Juvia has been my girlfriend for a few weeks now and I went over yesterday because I wanted to spend some time with her. Are you angry?" Natsu asked when Happy didn't immediately answer. But Happy just looked as if he was thinking "Weren't you and Juvi-nee together for a very long time already? You two slept together on Christmas already, didn't you?"

Both Natsu and Juvia blushed at this. What the young boy said was true, but back then neither of them even thought of the other like that in the slightest. But still Happy had thought that they had been together for a long time when in reality they had only hooked up a few weeks ago.

Natsu hit the boy lightly in a joking manner "Silly you, it's not because we slept in the same bed that we were together. You aren't my boyfriend either, or are you?" Natsu asked the blue haired boy who shook his head no "That would be weird daddy!" the young boy giggled as Natsu tickled him. Juvia smiled lightly. It seemed like Happy had already accepted her as a mother figure, even while she and Natsu hadn't been a couple.

"Hey dad, does that mean that Juvia will be my mommy from now on?" Happy suddenly asked and Natsu looked at Juvia and back at his son again, not knowing what to answer to this sudden question. But before Natsu could answer, Juvia told the young boy "Sure, Juvia will be your new mommy if you want to."

Happy's face lit up and he jumped off Natsu's lap to give Juvia a hug. Juvia smiled. For the first time in years, she now had a child and a man loving her again. She couldn't be happier with this outcome. Just a few months ago, she couldn't imagine ever being truly happy again. Then suddenly Natsu was transferred to this area for work and she made a new friend. When all that stuff with Bora happened, she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to be happy again after losing her kids. But Natsu had done everything he could to make her happy again, which had eventually made her fall in love with him. And look where she was now. Being introduced to Natsu's son as his new mom. It felt a bit weird, but Juvia wouldn't have wanted it any different…


	19. First date

**_First date…  
21-08-2017_**

Two weeks passed, and Juvia had started to mingle into the little family. Happy had quickly accepted her as his mother figure and they had gone out a few times with the three of them to eat after work or do something fun in the weekends. Juvia and Natsu hadn't had the time to go out with just the two of them on a proper date though. The last time they had gone out with just the two of them had been before Happy's birthday and they hadn't even been together back then. Natsu realised this as he was making dinner for the three of them. "Hey Juvia, now I think about it; we haven't had a proper date yet, have we?" he asked the blue haired woman that was reading behind him at the kitchen table while he was cooking.

"Now you mention it, Juvia doesn't think we did…" she answered him and directed her attention back to her book. "So, how about we go to the movies Saturday? We don't really have to do anything for Monday… And we can kinda see it as our one month anniversary since that's coming up real soon too," Natsu asked her and Juvia's head went up again. Sure, they had been together for almost a month now, but Natsu asking her out on what would be their first date was still a little bit special for her.

She blushed as she agreed to Natsu's plans. This would be a special occasion. She still vaguely remembered her first date with Bora; they had just gone to a fancy restaurant and had a stroll in the park afterwards. She had really enjoyed it back then, but thinking back at it now made her cringe a little. To think that she had actually been able to love that man…

"Hey Natsu-san?" she asked and Natsu turned his head to listen "Do you still remember your first date with your wife?"  
Natsu was a bit taken back by this question. He hadn't really expected Juvia to ask after what he did with his wife. But he answered "Yeah. We went to the Zoo. It was really fun…" he told her.  
Then he suddenly turned around and kissed her "You're not worried I still love her more than you, are you?" Natsu said in a teasing manner and Juvia pouted "Of course not silly."

Natsu smiled; he really had been lucky to meet Juvia and have her fall in love with him just as much as he had fallen in love with her. "I love you Juvia," he said and was amused as he saw her face colour red as she said "Love you too."

So the next evening, Natsu left Happy in Gray's care as they went off on their date. It was nothing special; they would go grab something to eat and watch a movie. But the most important part was that they would be together and had some fun. So when they walked out of the movie theatre, they both had a big smile plastered over their faces and were talking happily about the movie.  
Until they noticed it was raining outside. And not just a little…

"Fuck, I should've brought an umbrella…" Natsu said as he realised that they had left the car at home because Natsu didn't live that far from the downtown area where they went out on their date. And however it was relatively close, they still had to walk approximately 15 minutes until they were at Natsu's house again, and there was no sign that the heavy rain would be stopping anywhere soon…

"We're gonna have to run," Natsu said and Juvia's head snapped towards him "Are you crazy Natsu-san, it's raining cats and dogs. We'll be soaked before we reach your house!" she yelled at him, only to get a smile out of him and hear him say "It's better than not getting home. Here, wear my jacket," he said as he handed her his jacket. "Natsu-san, Juvia can't take this. What about you?" she asked him and Natsu shook his head "Don't worry about me now Juvia, you don't have a jacket. As your boyfriend, I'll have to put you before me, right?" he told her as he grabbed her hand and got ready to run. "You really sure about this Natsu?" Juvia asked as she put on the jacket and pulled the hood over her head to protect her from the heavy rain. "Yeah!" he responded and pressed a kiss on her lips. "Let's go, Juvia!" he said and the two of them ran into the rain.

When they suddenly ran into the house soaking wet, Gray looked up weird and asked "Did you two have fun?"  
"Yeah," Natsu answered "Too bad it started raining so badly."  
"You look like a drowned cat Natsu," Gray mentioned and Natsu yelled back "Yeah Yeah, I know already!" as he got rid of his shoes. "I'll go get us some towels," he said to Juvia who nodded as she started peeling off the soaked fabric of Natsu's jacket.

When Natsu returned with some towels, he noticed that Juvia's white shirt had started to become a bit see-through now it was completely soaked. He handed her the towel and looked away with a light blush on his face. He then walked back into the living room where Gray was taking his stuff and thanked the raven haired male "Thanks for looking after Happy again,"  
"No problem Natsu. You know you can call me whenever you need," Gray said and Natsu nodded as his friend made his way to the front door where he said goodbye to Juvia as well and left for his own home.

Juvia walked into the living room as well with a towel covering her upper body and Natsu said "Ah, you can take a shower if you want, I'll get you some clothes you can wear while I dry yours," Natsu told her and Juvia nodded "Thank you Natsu-san," she said as she silently went upstairs so she wouldn't wake up Happy and got into the bathroom. She was in the shower when she heard the door open again and heard Natsu's voice say "I left you some clothes on the counter, okay?"  
"Yes, thank you Natsu-san," she answered him. About ten minutes later, she left the shower feeling clean and refreshed again. She picked up a towel that was left out for her too and dried herself. Then she looked at the clothes. She had expected Natsu to leave some of his clothes out for her to wear; but to her surprise she found female clothes lying on the counter. There was a light blue shirt with a flowery design on them in white, and some white shorts with the same flowery design on them in light blue. She tried them on and they actually fit surprisingly well.  
 _'Were these the clothes of Natsu-san's wife?'_ she asked herself as she dried through her hair once more and stepped out of the bathroom. She walked downstairs again where she found Natsu in his sleepwear on the couch drying through his hair. "Do the clothes fit," Natsu asked as he turned around and saw Juvia. Now she really looked like his dead wife. He shook his head and smiled "I still had those lying around. I hope you don't mind wearing them," Natsu said and Juvia shook her head "It's all right Natsu. Juvia doesn't mind," she told him as she sat down next to him on the couch.

He sneaked an arm around her and pulled her closer so she was now leaning against him, her head in the crook of his neck as they just sat there enjoying each other's company. "I really love you Juvia," Natsu said as he placed a tender kiss on her lips.

Juvia could feel the love in that single kiss. This entire evening had been a tad special for them. They had their first official date which also marked down their almost one month anniversary; would this evening end with something more special? Juvia wondered if they would take that step forwards in their relationship today when Natsu suddenly yawned and said "Let's go to sleep. I'm totally exhausted."

Well, she would have to wait a little longer to get to the next step of their relationship. She didn't mind too much though; she was happy enough as it was now with Natsu here with her.  
So she followed him upstairs to his bedroom where she would be staying the night and fell asleep surprisingly easy nestled in the warm arms of her boyfriend and thinking about what the future would bring for them…

That night though, when Happy was woken up by an unknown cause; he went to his father's bedroom like he always did when he woke up in the middle of the night. He opened the door but as he walked inside, he noticed the smaller form in his father arms. As he saw the blue hair he knew it was Juvia who had stayed the night at their place, which was happening more and more over the course of the past few weeks. Happy felt happy because his father had finally found someone he could be happy again with, but he also felt a little sad because it felt like he had lost his father to Juvia…

As Happy walked out of the room to his own bedroom again, he knew one thing: he would certainly have to get used to sharing his father with Juvia…


	20. Awkward

_**Awkward…  
05-08-2017**_

Juvia had left the next morning after they ate breakfast together and they would only have some free time to spend together in August, as that was the only month in the year the company was closed and both Juvia and Natsu didn't have to work then.

Now as Natsu was walking through the supermarket after his last day of work till September, he was thinking. After Juvia had left, he had realised to things: He had to make sure that Happy didn't feel excluded now that he was so close to Juvia. He didn't want the young boy to feel like he didn't belong with them anymore now Natsu had found love again. But he had also realised that Juvia might want more than just cuddling and domestic bliss in their relationship. When they had been sitting on the couch after they came back from their date, Natsu had purposely tried to ruin the mood by suggesting they would go to sleep and falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He didn't feel ready to go further yet. Sure, he really wanted to get to it, and he really loved Juvia. But he couldn't just do it for himself. He kept thinking: what if I get her pregnant? What if she dies too?

He knew it hadn't been his fault what happened to his wife and that she had just been weaker than other women so that the chance that it would happen again was very small. But he just couldn't risk it just yet. Still he found himself in front of a spot with condoms in the shop. It was awkward and Natsu looked at it with a bright red blush painting his cheeks. However he had bought condoms before when he was with his wife, this was still a bit awkward to do…

He just quickly took the package and left for the cash register with a blush still on his face.  
As he was paying for his groceries, he felt like the girl behind the cash register was checking him out; but before she could say anything, he took his bag and left the shop after having paid. That had been more than uncomfortable, luckily it was all over now and he could go home to Happy.

But as Natsu walked through the door, he saw Juvia sitting in the living room with Happy. "Oh, Juvia. I didn't know you would be coming today," he said. He had not been prepared to face Juvia right now. Not after that awkward shopping trip. "I hope it's all right. I just thought that now that we have some free time, we could spend it together…" she told him and he shook his head "It's okay by me, what do you think Happy?"  
"I don't mind," the young boy said "Whenever Juvia's around, you're always really happy,". Natsu blushed; although it was true what Happy said, hearing it out loud like that was a bit embarrassing…

Natsu put down the groceries on the kitchen table and started putting them away. Juvia walked into the kitchen as well and said "Juvia will help Natsu-san." Natsu wanted to agree when he realised what he had just bought and that Juvia would spot it if she helped him put away the groceries "Oh no, it's fine Juvia; honestly. I'm almost done already," he told her and she looked just a tad suspicious of him as he continued putting away the groceries.

The rest of the evening past pretty quietly; Natsu and Juvia cooking dinner together for the three of them and eating together. Then watching a movie after dinner and Natsu putting his son to bed when he fell asleep while sitting in between them. With Happy gone, it felt like the restriction to cuddle was also gone and Natsu and Juvia leaned against each other, sharing an occasional kiss.

As the movie ended and the two of them sat in silence, the kisses shared between the two of them grew more heated and Natsu wondered if this would be the day that they went that little step further in their relationship. Natsu's hand went down to push Juvia's shirt up and they roamed over the skin underneath, lips moving against each other and panting as they broke up. Natsu kissed her throat and shoulders when he suddenly heard a door open upstairs. Juvia looked at him in surprise when he suddenly pulled back and fixed his clothes, then Natsu pointed up and Juvia heard the little feet tapping the wooden boards of the upper floor of the house.

Not much later, Happy indeed came back downstairs with the message that he had had a bad dream and asked if Natsu could come with him upstairs to tuck him in again. Natsu gladly agreed and led the boy upstairs again to tuck him in again and ensure him that there were no monsters anywhere.

When he got downstairs again, he apologised to Juvia that their moment had once again been ruined. But Juvia only laughed and said "Maybe we're cursed Natsu-san; maybe the Gods don't want us to go further." Natsu had to laugh at this too.  
They would get there eventually and when that time came, it would be extra special.

The next day, Juvia told Natsu she had to leave to get some things done back at home. He had kissed her goodbye and Juvia had told him that she would return later this week if that was okay with Natsu. "Sure it is," Natsu told her "Come by whenever you like. We don't mind, do we Happy?" Natsu asked his son. Happy shook his head and said "Of course not!"  
Juvia smiled as she stepped out of the door and into her car, driving off towards her house.

But as she arrived at her own home, she thought it felt empty. Nothing had changed since yesterday when she had left for Natsu's place, but lately she had been feeling a bit lonely in her house again. She was all alone in the house after all; no kids running around or the presence of a loved person. At first it was just the kids she missed. She had been divorced from Bora a long time ago so it wasn't the presence of him that she missed all too much in the house, but now that she had experienced the loving touch of Natsu again she found herself missing that touch more and more and craving for it as she slept alone in her own bed at night.

When she returned to Natsu's house later that week, she was happy to be able to see him again. Even though it had only been three day that they had spent apart, she had missed him and was happy to be in his arms again. "Hey Natsu, how about we go to the zoo with Happy tomorrow?" Juvia proposed as they were laying in bed that night. Natsu, who had been nodding off, raised his head at her question and answered "That'd be fun. I'm sure Happy would like that too," as he nuzzled his head back into her blue locks.

And he was right. The next morning, when Natsu went to wake up his son, the young boy grumbled at being woken up so early in summer vacation. Then Natsu told him that they would be going to the zoo with Juvia and Juvia had honestly never seen someone get that excited to go to the zoo before. She smiled as she watched Natsu trying to get Happy to calm down so he could get the kid ready and called out "Should Juvia help a little Natsu-san?".  
Natsu looked up with a smile and picked Happy up "Don't worry Juvia. After six years of this, I've got it."

As they entered the zoo, Natsu couldn't help but think back at the last time he had been to the zoo with Happy. It had been with Gray and his best friend had kissed him back then. So much had happened since then: he had rejected Gray; but the two of them had talked everything out when Natsu had just hooked up with Juvia and any doubts and worries between the two of them had disappeared again. He also had gained to courage to confess to Juvia that one fated night and the two of them had hooked up. And they were both happy with how things had turned out lately.

The day at the zoo passed way too quickly for the two of them. Although Natsu had spent more time chasing after Happy who excitedly ran around the zoo than he spend with Juvia; she had enjoyed herself more than she had in the last few months.  
"I hope you enjoyed yourself a bit too today," Natsu said as they walked back to the car; one arm wrapped around Juvia's waist while he carried Happy in the other one. Juvia looked at him with a smile and told him "Juvia had a great time today Natsu-san. Is it all right if Juvia stays over tonight?" she asked him and Natsu looked at her as if she had asked something impossible "Do you really need to ask that Juvia? You know you can stay over whenever you want for however long you want, don't you?"

Juvia nodded and spoke up "I know, I just wanted to check with you to be sure…"  
Natsu didn't know what this was all about, but he gave her a kiss and continued walking towards the car alongside her.  
When they got home, Natsu ordered pizza for the three of them and they ate on the couch. Only when Happy had fallen asleep, Natsu bothered to get up again to tuck him into bed.

When he returned to the couch, he leaned into Juvia and kissed her neck, peppering kisses all along her neck and cheek. Juvia blushed as the mood was instantly set. But would they be somehow interrupted again? Juvia hoped they could finally proceed with their relationship tonight. It felt right to do it now; and Juvia decided for herself that this was what she wanted.

She grabbed Natsu's face and pulled him in for a kiss; the kiss immediately deepening as they started making out on the couch. Natsu pulled Juvia closer; he needed to feel her more, just that little bit closer…

They broke up and one look was enough for them both to know what they wanted. Yet they were still a little unsure. Juvia was the first to speak up and break the uncomfortable silence "Natsu-san, do you want to go to the next step tonight?" she asked. Natsu nodded nervously "Do you?"  
Juvia nodded as well and as if to seal the deal, they kissed once more.

They both got up and moved towards Natsu's bedroom upstairs, both nervous for what was about to come. And as Natsu closed and locked the door, they both knew that there was no going back once they had done this.  
And yet they didn't want anything else…


	21. Shades of pink and blue

_**Shades of Pink and Blue  
The Ups and Downs of being a Single Dad  
**_

As soon as the bedroom door was closed and Natsu had turned the key to lock the door, their hands were all over each other. Slowly, they made their way towards the bed and Natsu pushed the blue haired woman softly down on the bed. He leaned over her and captured her lips again, moving his hands up and down her tender body. "Natsu…" Her voice was a breathy whisper as it escaped her throat when Natsu made his way lower and started sucking on the tender skin of her neck.  
Her hands sneaked around his neck in an attempt to pull him closer to just feel more of him. She wanted to be with him, to feel him.

Natsu slowly started making his way down, peppering kisses all over her neck and down to where her dress ended. When his kisses reached the blue fabric of her dress, his hands sneaked behind her back and he looked up for permission to unzip the dress and remove the piece of clothing. Juvia felt like those eyes looking up at her would take her in and never let her go again and without being able to properly think, she fell in love all over again with those eyes and swallowed as she nodded and gave the man she loved so much permission to go further and remove her clothing.  
When the dress slid off, Natsu continued peppering kisses all over her body, now going for her breast and stomach too.

Juvia writhed in pleasure beneath the mouth of the pinket. It were only kisses, but still…  
And although she felt the heat pooling between her legs, she wanted them to be even. Not only she should be getting the pleasure here. But as her hands moved towards Natsu's scarf, he suddenly looked up and grabbed her hand. Then, as he realised what she was doing, he let go of her hand again and let her remove the scaly white piece of fabric around his neck.  
Getting the hint, he sat up and removed his shirt, revealing his slightly tanned upper body. Juvia looked in awe; she had seen Natsu without a shirt before, but never had she taken a good look at how he looked. And not looking at him more properly had certainly been a mistake cause Natsu sure looked good.

Natsu felt Juvia's eyes practically burning holes in him and blushed. He knew he shouldn't be ashamed of his body and had more than once gotten compliments about it at the gym; but feeling her gaze on him now in the heat of the moment still made him a bit unsure about it. And in that moment of hesitance from Natsu's side, it was suddenly him who was pushed down on the bed with Juvia towering above him. "J-Juvia," he managed to get out before she caught his lips with hers and then she too started making her way down to his neck.  
And sucking and kissing at his neck seemed to be an extremely good idea. Juvia quickly discovered that Natsu was hyper sensitive at this spot, especially on top of the scar she had just discovered on his neck. Soon enough, the pinket was writhing underneath her, covering his mouth with both hands to keep the sounds from spilling out.

When she retracted her mouth from his neck again, Natsu was panting and had his eyes closed. "Hmm, Natsu-san isn't tired already, is he?" she asked him teasingly and he opened his eyes again, looking into her big blue ones with a look of adoration and determination "Of course not. Not until I've made this the best night of your life," Natsu told her and immediately Juvia's dominant façade crumbled and a bright red blush appeared on her cheeks.  
She got off of him but one of Natsu's hand followed her up and rested on her cheek, his face following and he kissed her again. Then his hands went down again and started working on his belt so he could get rid of his pants too and they could move forward again. When his belt came off, so did his pants and Juvia noticed the half hard cock tenting the male's boxers. Juvia blushed as she tore her gaze away from the pink haired male's boxers and Natsu blushed as he noticed what Juvia had been looking at. They might have been both adults with kids already, this was still a bit awkward for them.

Natsu tried to ease away the awkwardness a bit with a kiss and as he felt Juvia reach behind her back to unclasp her bra, he deepened the kiss. His tongue swirled inside her mouth and danced with her own as Juvia slid the bra straps down her arms, revealing her breasts to Natsu.  
Natsu brought one of his hands over to one of the globes and covered it with his hand, massaging it lightly; Juvia gasped as he did so and the stimulation went right through her body to her crotch.  
"Natsu," she moaned as she leaned into his touch, craving more already although she hadn't really gotten anything yet.  
Natsu latched his lips on her other nipple and swirled his tongue around it, sucking the nip until it stiffened and Juvia had to silence her moans. Then he kissed his way down to her underwear and stopped where the fabric of her underwear started. He looked up from his position in between her leg with a look that asked for permission to continue. Only when Juvia nodded, he started pulling her panties down her legs to reveal her pussy.

With her underwear gone, Natsu pulled her legs apart and looked right into her eyes as he licked over her wet folds "You're quite wet already Juvia; were you this excited?" he asked her and her face turned bright red as she stammered out parts of a sentence that Natsu couldn't really understand.  
He instead returned his tongue to get a different reaction out of her, which seemed to work cause instantly Juvia was covering her mouth to stifle the moans threatening to spill. As his tongue worked on her lower parts, he could feel her legs twist and turn as she got closer and closer to her climax. He could feel his own cock throb as it was restrained by the thin layer of fabric his underwear formed and a bead of precum moistened the front of his underwear.

With just a little more, Juvia gasped and her legs locked around Natsu's head in a vice grip as she rocked her core against his face to feel more of the stimulation Natsu gave her.  
When her orgasm slowly faded away again, she tried to catch her breath and Natsu slowly removed his head from in between her legs and wiped off some of her juices that stuck to the corner of his mouth. "Natsu…" Juvia breathed out but Natsu shook his head as he silenced her with a kiss "You don't have to say anything. We're not done yet…" he whispered back as his hands went down to his underwear and he hooked his thumbs into it. When he pushed the piece of fabric down and slid it off his legs, Juvia couldn't help but stare at the now freed cock that quickly raised to full length now that there was no more fabric hindering it.

Natsu leaned down again, towering over her as he kissed her again. Then one of his hands went over to his nightstand and pulled open the drawer, revealing an unopened pack of condoms. Juvia looked over at Natsu with a questioning look on her face. When had he gotten those? She didn't even knew he had condoms…  
But she was kinda happy he had thought about it and not just plunged into having sex with her without thinking about protection. Sure, she wouldn't mind having a kid with Natsu; but she knew that Natsu was not ready for another kid and something in the back of her mind told her that she wasn't ready for one either. Cause what would happen if Natsu too would leave her if he found out that she was pregnant? She didn't even want to think about that happening. Of course, part of her knew that Natsu wasn't the guy to do something like that and that she couldn't think he would do the same thing as Bora had done; but another part of her couldn't stop wondering 'what if…'.

Natsu ripped open the package and as he got the rubber out of its package, looked up at Juvia to spot any doubt in her eyes before looking down and covering his cock with the rubber. Juvia looked fascinated as Natsu hands rolled the condom over his cock and he gave himself a few strokes to make sure everything was snug.  
When he was good, he looked up to Juvia again and asked "Are you sure you're ready for this Juvia? We can still stop." Juvia nodded and told the pinket in front of her "Please Natsu-san. Juvia wants this…"

Natsu nodded and pulled her legs apart slowly and positioned himself in front of her entrance, grabbing his dick and lining it up with it. He kissed Juvia once more as he pressed the tip inside. The bluenette gasped and Natsu smiled, already a bit out of breath from holding back this entire time. Then he pushed the rest in, figuring he didn't need to go slow since she had some experience already. But he still waited when he was fully seated inside of her. Waiting until both of them had caught their breaths and Juvia nodded to tell him it was okay to start moving. His hips moved as if he had done this hundreds of times, when in reality he had only had the chance to experience this a few times before his wife got pregnant and 'all that' happened.  
He could still recall his first time though. It had been with his wife and they had both been totally unexperienced and clumsy in the matter. Things had been over way too quick and they had both fallen asleep right after, way too exhausted to stay up after the exhaustion of a week of university and the sex had caught up with them. In a way, he was happy that he had that experience and knew what he had to do to make sure Juvia felt the ultimate amount of pleasure he could give her.

And Juvia did. In all of her life, she had never experienced sex this great. Bora was a selfish prick when it came to sex, just like most of her other boyfriends in high school with whom she had come to this point. Natsu however paid attention to her needs as much as possible, his lips were almost constantly on hers and he held her close as his hips moved in and out of her.

Natsu looked down at Juvia, how her breasts jiggled with every thrusts of his hips, how her wavy blue hair was everywhere, how her eyes were half lidded with pleasure and she tried to keep down her moans to not wake up Happy who was sleeping a few rooms down. And as he was making love to her here, in this bedroom, it seemed like a déjà vû. As if he had done this before. And in a certain way he had; Juvia looked just like his wife as she was sprawled out here underneath him on the bed. But Natsu shook his head. He couldn't think like that now; this was not his wife, this was Juvia and although it had hurt to just forget about his wife, he couldn't think about her anymore when he was in love with someone new. And as one of Juvia's moans escaped, Natsu fully snapped out of his thoughts. This was it, Juvia's voice was the one thing that kept bringing him back to the present when he drifted off in memories of his wife. That sweet voice of hers and that special way of talking, it was only Juvia that sounded like that. And he had fallen in love with her over and over.

He leaned down again and their lips met once more in a tender kiss that quickly deepened into a full make out session. Natsu's hips kept their rhythm going and one of Juvia's hand went into Natsu's hair, tugging on the pink locks as she tried to arch up to be closer to the man that was giving her so much pleasure. And as their kiss got more passionate, it really felt as if they slowly became one. Shades of pink and blue, mingling on the bed in the room. They felt like they were the only persons in the entire world at this moment and they were all that mattered to each other right now.

"Natsu-san, I-I…" Juvia managed to get out before Natsu felt her insides twitch and squeeze around him as she reached her climax. Natsu's thrusts got sloppy as he wanted to share in her moment of ecstasy and soon enough, he felt him spill his fluids in the condom as he too reached his orgasmic height and moaned out Juvia's name.  
When they both came down from their orgasmic heights, Natsu felt his cock shrink again and the condom sliding off so he pulled out of Juvia, tied a knot in the rubber and threw it in the little trash can in his room. Then he returned to the bed where Juvia was already nodding off and he threw a blanket over the two of them as he spooned her and quickly drifted off to sleep too.


End file.
